From Liverpool’s small venues to international stages, reflects on his early years, the making of ‘Doctrine of Love’, and why the people behind the music matter more than the technology.
When I first met in Liverpool over a decade ago, his flat was already filled with seven-inch soul records. He was studying at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA), playing gigs around the city, and whenever you visited, there was usually a guitar or piano within reach. When we reconnect years later, I ask whether he’s still collecting.
“It’s tripled in size,” he laughs.
It’s been a busy few years for the Maryland-born singer. Since releasing his debut album ‘Come Around and Love Me’ in 2023, Ngonda has established himself as a distinctive voice in contemporary soul. Signed to New York’s Daptone Records, his music draws heavily on the sounds of the 1960s and early ’70s, pairing rich arrangements with a vocal style that recalls the great American soul singers.
His second album, ‘Doctrine of Love’, arrived earlier this year, while an increasingly demanding touring schedule has taken him across Europe and onto much bigger stages.
When we speak, he’s in Bournemouth during the UK leg of his tour. Having recently returned from a run of European dates, he’s understandably tired, but there’s still time to catch up on the old Liverpool days.
Record collecting remains a favourite pastime. These days, it’s less about discovering unfamiliar music and more about tracking down singles he’s known about for years. “A lot of stuff I already know exists. It’s just a collector’s game. You’re like, ‘Oh man, I found this record.'”
Not every purchase proves worthwhile. He admits to picking up the occasional record he’s never heard before, only to discover there’s probably a reason it remained obscure. Still, the search continues.
Ngonda moved to Liverpool from America to study at LIPA, where he found himself surrounded by musicians, playing in bands and writing with friends. Looking back, he credits those relationships with having the greatest influence on his development. “I think the musicians that I was playing with around that time were probably the biggest factor in how I came to be who I am right now” he says. “The experiences in Liverpool have something to do with it as well, but when it comes to life experience, that’s something that could have been experienced anywhere.” For him, it was the people rather than the location that mattered most. “I think I owe it to the friends I made, and the bands I was in, and the people I wrote with.”
There was no shortage of opportunities to perform. Ngonda recalls playing across some of Liverpool’s legendary venues, including The Shipping Forecast, The Jacaranda, District and Camp and Furnace. He also held a regular weekend spot at Frederiks.
Those early performances were the beginning of a much longer education on stage. The past three years have seen Ngonda touring almost constantly, with experience playing an important role in his development as a live performer. “It’s just getting more experience at it,” he explains. “Especially the past three years, it’s been very relentless. So it had no way to go but up.”
Despite the bigger stages and busier schedule, his approach to songwriting remains fairly simple. “If you’re a songwriter, inspiration should come to you no matter where you are” he says. “Having a guitar in your house definitely helps. You don’t need Abbey Road to create some songs.”
His work with Daptone Records has nevertheless given him access to a studio environment closely aligned with his musical influences. The label, known for artists including Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings and , has built its reputation around the sounds and recording traditions of classic soul and funk.
“Anything on Daptone is going to have a certain sound, because it’s Daptone,” he says. “The whole thing is like ’60s, early ’70s. And with my influence of being into that stuff, there’s a good meeting point.”
His latest album, ‘Doctrine of Love’, builds on the sound of his debut, with more uptempo arrangements alongside the melodic songwriting and vocal delivery that have become his signatures. Rather than setting out to create one particular atmosphere across the record, Ngonda explains that each song was approached individually. “We gave attention to every single song. It wasn’t like we just did a bunch of songs and tried to create an atmosphere around all of them.”
The recording process was collaborative, with the producers and session musicians bringing their own influences into the studio. Sometimes the arrangements called for additional strings or a tambourine, but the focus was always on what worked for the individual track. “We treated every song very seriously” he adds, with the intention that each recording could stand on its own.
While Daptone’s traditional recording methods suit Ngonda’s music, he doesn’t necessarily believe that older techniques are better than those available today. “It’s not so much of a loss. It just has changed,” he says when asked whether something has disappeared from modern music production.”Back then there were no computers, and there was a limited amount of tape. So the players had to be really good. And if there were mistakes in the recording, but they had no more tape, they would just have to roll with what they got.”
He also points out that the musical world itself was completely different. The musicians working in the 1960s hadn’t grown up with hip-hop, house, techno or drum and bass. Their influences came from the music available to them at the time. “If you were at a studio in 1966, that’s the only music you know. The way you played, and the way everyone else played, would have been a version of the world they grew up in at the time.”
For Ngonda, it’s not simply a question of recreating the equipment or recording methods of the past. The musicians themselves were products of a particular era, bringing their own experiences and musical backgrounds into the studio. “People argue that digital takes the soul out of it, but to me it doesn’t really matter, It’s about the passion in the studio rather than the studio giving the passion.” He continues “As a species, we’re always going to create magic in a studio” he says.
Away from recording and touring, Jalen admits he doesn’t spend much time keeping up with contemporary releases. He occasionally comes across a singer who catches his attention, but he’s generally more interested in the music he discovers closer to home. “I’m just so out of the loop. I’m just in my own little world all the time” he laughs.
Often, it’s the musicians playing smaller venues who leave the biggest impression. “I know more bands that are playing in small pubs that I think are really good than bands that are making noise” he says. “If I go to a gig at my local or something, that’s the most current stuff I’ve heard that I’ve liked.”
It’s an interesting observation from someone who spent his early career playing many of those same rooms, from The Jacaranda to his regular weekends at Frederiks in Liverpool. More than a decade later, he’s still keeping an ear out for what’s happening on the smaller stages.
‘Doctrine of Love’ is out now. Jalen Ngonda released his take on ‘Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)’ as an Amazon Original.