It’s a good time to be Moses Sumney

We caught up to discuss his emerging creative ventures, how he marries his career as a musician with that of an actor, and how he hopes people respond to his newest musical project. When we speak, it’s clear he’s got a lot going on

Introduction to the interview with Moses Sumney on Lampoon #30

When I call Moses Sumney, he answers from the streets of Moncalvo, a small town in the Piedmont region of Italy, where he’s scoring a dance performance at a local arts residency. Over the duration of our call, Sumney rides a bike – with our video call placed gingerly face up in the bike’s basket –, orders a pistachio gelato and gets announced as the Global Ambassador for Rabanne’s scent Million Gold.

Moses, who calls Asheville, North Carolina, home, was set to release his forthcoming musical project, Sophcore, the next day. As a follow up to his 2020 album græ (which Pitchfork labeled a “sprawling…riot of moods”), Sophcore is a more exuberant, immediate musical experience meant for creating moments of communal gathering.

First known for the timbre of his acrobatic voice, Moses recently migrated his artistic output, exploring other forms of performance and trading the stage for the screen in the process. Last summer, he featured in the blockbuster TV series, The Idol, as a wayward musician alongside Lily Rose Depp and the Weeknd. This summer, he appears in horror blockbuster MaXXXine, the third installment of the Ti West’s horror film trilogy starring Mia Goth, X, as Leon, a Hollywood Boulevard video store employee.

We caught up to discuss his emerging creative ventures, how he marries his career as a musician with that of an actor, and how he hopes people respond to his newest musical project. When we speak, it’s clear he’s got a lot going on. Regardless, he only had plans to spend the following weeks enjoying a road trip through the Tuscan countryside. It’s a good time to be Moses Sumney.

V.F. What brings you to Italy?

MOSES SUMNEY I’m at this place called Orsolina 28, it’s a creative residency space. I’m scoring a dance performance here. I’ve been here for two weeks, then I’m going to get in a car today and just drive around Italy and see where I land. I’m going to go to Florence and just hang out.

V.F. There’s a lot going on for you right now.

MOSES SUMNEY We’ll just start from a couple months ago. I was in my first movie, MaXXXine, for A24. We did a big Hollywood premiere and it was in theaters all around the country. Then it was announced just literally 15 minutes ago, that I’m the new face of Rabanne’s Milion Gold men’s fragrance. Then I have my EP coming out tomorrow.

V.F. You’re going to let this all happen on your road trip?

MOSES SUMNEY I am just taking the space that I need and I’m on a lot of phone calls – but in between me on the phone, I’m hanging out in Italy and enjoying the beauty of the city. Maybe I’ll go for a little walk.

V.F. The theme of this issue for Lampoon is rawness: raw ideas, raw inspiration, things that feel like they’re coming from more of an elemental place. Do you have a relationship to that concept?

MOSES SUMNEY I connect with it, with the idea of an organic way of living and being. I think immediately of nature, because I’ve spent the last few years living in the mountains in the forest and I love the rawness of being barefoot outside. I love the Italian countryside for this reason as well. I try to make music that’s pretty raw and pretty honest. I like to bear my soul. I also love eating raw food. I’ve been eating raw eggs lately.

V.F. Alone? Or mixed into something?

MOSES SUMNEY I put them in a smoothie, but there’s been a few times that I’ve just been like, I don’t have time – crack, drink.

V.F. Alone? Or mixed into something?

MOSES SUMNEY Straight from the shell.

V.F. You’ve got upcoming EP, movie, fragrance. How do you find balancing all these things? Do you find them that you keep them separate?

MOSES SUMNEY That’s just the way I think already. It doesn’t take a whole lot of effort for me, but I do try to connect things. If there can be a sense of rawness through everything I do, then I’m connecting them. I try to tell the truth in any work that I do. Between film acting and music, the connecting tissue there for me is just: if I can connect to an emotional honesty, then I won’t have to worry about things feeling random. I always know when I’m telling the truth and I always know when I’m lying when I’m performing.

V.F. Do you find it’s just as easy to access in acting as it is in music?

MOSES SUMNEY When I’m writing and recording, I have to give myself a lot of space in order to do it. Maybe because it’s personal. When I’m performing music, sometimes it can be challenging to access that honesty, because I’m standing in front of an audience and if something about he vibe is weird, I’m suddenly in my head – it’s harder to connect to that honesty.

V.F. Alone? Or mixed into something?

MOSES SUMNEY I put them in a smoothie, but there’s been a few times that I’ve just been like, I don’t have time crack, drink.

V.F. Alone? Or mixed into something?

MOSES SUMNEY Straight from the shell.

V.F. You’ve got upcoming EP, movie, fragrance. How do you find balancing all these things? Do you find them that you keep them separate?

MOSES SUMNEY That’s just the way I think already. It doesn’t take a whole lot of effort for me, but I do try to connect things. If there can be a sense of rawness through everything I do, then I’m connecting them. I try to tell the truth in any work that I do. Between film acting and music, the connecting tissue there for me is just: if I can connect to an emotional honesty, then I won’t have to worry about things feeling random. I always know when I’m telling the truth and I always know when I’m lying when I’m performing.

V.F. Do you find it’s just as easy to access in acting as it is in music?

MOSES SUMNEY When I’m writing and recording, I have to give myself a lot of space in order to do it. Maybe because it’s personal. When I’m performing music, sometimes it can be challenging to access that honesty, because I’m standing in front of an audience and if something about the vibe is weird, I’m suddenly in my head it’s harder to connect to that honesty. With acting it can be hard because all these cameras and people around. Saying someone else’s words lets me get my guard down. It’s like I’m connecting to my emotional truth, but not my words, not my actual biography.

V.F. Filming MaXXXine, do you feel like you’re able to make your heart rate rise?

MOSES SUMNEY It’s easier to pretend to be scared than to be happy or in love. Ti West is such just a director but also a concise writer. We’d go into it knowing exactly what we’re doing every day.

The art department knows what every cassette tape a nerd who runs a video store should have. The wardrobe knows what I’m wearing and why I’m wearing it. Everyone has such a clarity.

V.F. I can imagine that’s a wild ride to have a big Hollywood movie premiere.

MOSES SUMNEY At the Chinese theater as well. It was so stupid, but not in a bad way. This was a serious matter, but at the same time was so silly that we’ve gathered for it. Every day as I work, shoot the movie, I feel as if I am channeling something real.

Am I going to get cut from this scene? At the premiere, we’re all here for a big laugh.

V.F. I should confess I actually met you backstage at the Louis Gabriel Nouchi show. You asked me where you could get a snack. How was the show for you?

MOSES SUMNEY Well, it’s not my first time walking for fashion shows. I remember when I was in high school, people would critique how I walk. They’d be like, where do you think you’re going? You think you’re a model? And I’d be like, I don’t understand. I’m just walking to class. I’m walking to algebra. I just walk how I walk. I’m tall. Whenever I walk a fashion show, now I’m like, ha ha ha. Bitches.

V.F. The EP describe it to me. What’s the world? Where’s it coming from?

MOSES SUMNEY Tender. Raw. Smooth. It’s about sensuality exploring what that means to my music. It’s about yearning for touch. Yearning is the theme of everything that I do. My first album, there’s a lot of absence of love, but there’s a lot of yearning for it. There’s always been a sense of sensuality in my music, whether or not people picked up on it, it’s up to them. Now this is sensuality and yearning in the R&B tradition. You want to move your hips a little bit, move your shoulders, and it’s fun. It’s a little bit more fun than like, oh my God, I’m going to kill myself. There’s a lot of R&B influence for sure. Brandy, Jill, Scott, Raphael Saadiq, Meshell Ndegeocello, Usher, but my version, the indie version. It’s about soul music and wanting to connect and a lot of communication in the bass and the drums.

V.F. How do you want to perform it? How do you want the live experience of this project to feel for you and the audience?

MOSES SUMNEY I want it to feel unifying. During Covid, I realized that most of the music that I make is quite an insular experience for people. I may have made music for people who, like me, listen to stuff by themselves. I wanted to make music that people could have a more collectivist experience to.

Valerio Farris

Read the entire interview on Lampoon #30 – raw ratio

Credits

photography Lauren Withrow @laurenwithrow
styling Kirby Marzec @kirbymarzec
talent Moses @moses
fashion full look Louis Vuitton @louisvuitton, jewels talents own
text Valerio Farris
grooming Jo Franco @jofrancoartistry
production Lauren Withrow @laurenwithrow, Benji Turgel @benjiturgel, and Dominique Guillory @dominiqueguillory
photography assistant Rafael Aguilar
styling assistant Suthee Rittahworn
tailor Sam McElrath

Special Editorial with Louis Vuitton @louisvuitton featuring Moses @moses