Ears Wide Open: Moses Sumney

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Moses Sumney_Emilio Guerra

Moses Sumney is a soulful one-man show with vocal percussion, handclaps and harmonies on loop, and his guitar strumming is intricate and heartfelt as the riffs he sings. After purchasing an old guitar from a friend, Sumney began to make a name for himself with a charismatic take on R&B-influenced folk-rock. Songs like “Alchemy” and the new “Dwell in the Dark” are introspective and wonderfully vulnerable, specialties that may have carried over from his time as a creative writing major at UCLA. Heck, even his cover of the Pussycat Dolls’ “Don’t Cha” is sincere and positively smooth. But you’ll have to catch one of his acoustic live sets to experience that special gem.

||| Stream: “Dwell in the Dark”

||| Live: Moses Sumney is direct support for KING every Monday throughout June at the Bootleg (early show, doors at 7 p.m.)

Photo by Emilio Guerra