EP Review: Sophcore (EP) by Moses Sumney

Moses Sumney radiates sensuality and playfulness amidst the opulent textures and understated production of this soulful six-song EP.

Courtesy of Tuntum Records.

With a crystalline falsetto and an expansive vocal range, Moses Sumney is a mesmerizing songwriter, guitarist, and producer who creates music as ambitious as the man himself. His songs, rooted in complex emotions, reveal unexpected links between pop and experimental genres. Released four years ago, his second album, Græ, portrays a universe where intimacy provides nourishment and pain.

He maintains that his interpretation of greyness extends beyond the occasional cloudiness that characterizes his disposition. Instead, it rejects binary thinking, asserting that life unfolds not in stark black or white but in the magnificently intricate spaces between. Moses, who values both autonomy and a discerning sense of quality control, insists on being significantly more involved in the daily aspects of his career than the typical artist.

The San Bernardino native of Ghanaian parents sings over squishy, squirrelly tracks whose post-Maxwell R&B foundations accommodate damaged rock rifflets and modest gospel overtones. When Moses Sumney sings, “I am not a woman, I am not a man,” in something close to his speaking voice on “Hey Girl,” I thought, Right on. He is himself and his artistic forebears too—namely, the Prince who offered a similar affirmation in “I Would Die 4 U.” Then the kicker: “I am an amoeba.” You might imagine him practicing vocal runs in the bedroom before church.

Sophcore—a curriculum vitae outlining his robust laryngeal resources—recaps Sumney’s achievements and sets up what audiences might expect from a new full-length statement. It’s a tease in the best sense. On his breakthrough album, Græ, four years ago, Sumney expressed the yearnings of a soul sonic force who loved being, as he sang on one of its most powerful tracks, “Neither/Nor.” To master such whisper-to-a-scream dynamics requires a sense of self that eschews bluster but is plenty assured. “Virile,” a collaboration with industrial rock act Yvette, regarded masculinity as a land worth invading with a conquering army.

Sumney’s prettiest and liveliest moments on Sophcore come from a collaboration with Portland producer Graham Jonson, who goes by quickly, quickly. “I’m Better (I’m Bad),” in which Sumney recreates a dialogue between himself and a feminized object of desire with louche delight, is cushioned by a symphony of gurgles and music-box melodies. “Gold Coast” begins as a sensual, puttering thing indebted to Bjork’s past works. Sumney’s chalky falsetto complements and works against the plucked guitars, distorted multi-tracked vocals, and synths; his impressionistic lyrics (“Talk in tongues, testify/Sunrise skin, color of clay”) say no thanks to coherence, bless them.

Over Sophcore’s recombinant grooves, Sumney radiates a sense of fun. Confidence in his vocal talents doesn’t congeal into self-regard. It turns out he’s right: Trills and melisma suit arrangements that swell and contract like protoplasmic organisms. “I was in my world, you were in yours too,” he coos on the closing “Love’s Refrain,” “so let’s refrain.” The finger-snapping rhythm track is almost an afterthought, a metronome to remind Sumney that his fascinations remain earthbound despite the stratospheric vantage point of his vowel experiments. Duetting with himself into infinity, he deepens the enigmas. From what—independence or romance?

Sumney veers slightly from his more experimental approach on the previously released singles, embracing a bit more conventional R&B sounds. However, there remain compositions and vocal flourishes that are distinctively Moses throughout the EP. His visage, seemingly sculpted by celestial hands, is breathtaking. While he leans into more traditional R&B territories, his unique artistic identity still shines through.

Favorite Track(s): “Whippedlashed,” “Gold Coast,” “Hey Girl”