Moses Sumney

Moses Sumney is an American singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles. He is from San Bernardino, Los Angeles, and is born in 1991. His work sits across alternative R&B and art pop, and he also draws on soul, folk and indie elements.

Early life

Sumney is born in California and is raised by pastor parents. When he is 10, he moves with his family back to Ghana. He later describes his childhood as having become “Americanized” by that point, and he finds the move difficult, particularly because of the rural setting. In Ghana, he grows up on a goat farm in Accra and travels to school by public bus. His family returns to Southern California when he is 16 and settles in Riverside.

He is very shy as a child and writes songs but keeps them hidden inside his mattress. At 20, he leaves home to study creative writing at UCLA and begins performing music. After buying a beaten-up guitar from a friend, he teaches himself to play and accompany himself.

Career

At UCLA, Sumney develops quickly as a performer and begins playing weekly alongside some of the university’s most respected musicians. After graduating, he makes soul-influenced folk music with guitar and layered arrangements built around loop pedals.

His debut project is the five-song EP Mid-City Island, released in 2014 and self-recorded onto a four-track recorder given to him by Dave Sitek of TV on the Radio. The EP is described by Pitchfork as largely made up of first takes and improvisation, with music that feels stirring but intentionally unfinished.

He follows it with another five-song EP, Lamentations, in 2016, which includes a guest appearance from Thundercat. His first full-length album, Aromanticism, is released by Jagjaguwar in 2017. It receives acclaim from Rolling Stone, The Guardian and The New York Times, which also names it one of the best albums of that year. Sumney says he comes across the term “aromantic” while writing the album in 2014, and it resonates with him.

His second studio album, Græ, is issued in two parts in 2020, with the second part accompanied by a physical release of the double album. He also releases music through Sumney Publishing.