Moses Sumney

Los Angeles singer/songwriter Moses Sumney combines rich soul balladry with art pop, indie rock, folk, and ambient R&B. He first emerged in 2014, his heady stylistic mix and captivating performances earning admirers like Sufjan Stevens and David Byrne ahead of his eclectic 2017 debut, Aromanticism. Sumney’s next two projects, a 2020 double album called Græ and the 2021 concert album film Live from Blackalachia, were even more ambitious. After contributing a song to the HBO series The Idol, he returned with the nostalgic, low-key R&B single “Vintage” in 2024. The San Bernardino native began playing out in his early twenties, quickly crafting a distinctive style that he augmented in the studio with lush multi-tracked vocal arrangements. His debut EP, 2014′s Mid-City Island, yielded the dreamy single “Man on the Moon” and was followed in 2016 by the more acoustic-oriented singles “Seeds” and “Please.” As his reputation grew, Sumney began to notch high-profile gigs opening for artists like Solange, James Blake, and David Byrne. In September 2017, he delivered his debut full-length, Aromanticism, an artfully crafted meditation on lovelessness and solitude. The following year, an EP was released featuring different versions of his Aromanticism track “Make Out in My Car,” as remixed by Sufjan Stevens and James Blake and covered by Alex Isley. Another EP, Black in Deep Red 2014, was also released in 2018. The musician returned in May 2020 with his second set, Græ. An experimental, sprawling double-album, Sumney’s sophomore set reflected on his multiplicity and complex sense of self. Equally ambitious was its 2021 follow-up, Live from Blackalachia. Recorded live with no audience on a stage erected in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Blackalachia was a sprawling concert album and film comprising material from his two previous albums. 2023′s “Get it B4” marked his first new studio single in three years and was featured on the first season of The Idol with Sumney himself also acting in the episode. A year later, his sound evolved again with “Vintage,” a hazy, textural track of wistful longing with a ’90s R&B feel. ~ Timothy Monger