DEACON

AlbumMar 26 / 202111 songs, 29m 10s
Alternative R&B Art Pop
Popular Highly Rated

Very few authors, inside of music or out, make the concept of loving a man sound as viable as serpentwithfeet. The Baltimore-originating singer studies them, and takes great pains across his sophomore album *DEACON* to present them in the very best light. “His outfit kinda corny, you know that’s my type/A corny man\'s a healthy man, you know his mind right,” he sings on “Malik.” *DEACON* is titled for one of the Black church’s most steadfast presences and plays as a love letter to the men in the singer\'s life, be they friends or lovers. “I’m thankful for the love I share with my friends,” he sings on “Fellowship,” a song that features contributions from Sampha and Lil Silva. Romance, though, is a constant presence across *DEACON*, and serpent frames the intimacy he enjoys with partners in ways that could make a lonely person writhe with jealousy. “He never played football, but look at how he holds me,” he sings on “Hyacinth.” “He never needed silverware but I\'m his little spoon.” We can’t know how generous serpent has been in his descriptors, but songs like “Heart Storm” (with NAO), “Wood Boy,” and “Derrick’s Beard” paint pictures of individuals and experiences so palpable they’ll leave you pining for dalliances past.

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7.7 / 10

Josiah Wise’s second album is an eager, effervescent tale of romance, outlining a genealogy that stretches from gospel to the shiny, gossamer R&B of the ’90s and ’00s.

5 / 10

9 / 10

Deacon is a rich and elegant ode to love proving serpentwithfeet's untouchable calibre

Album two softens the more uneasy edges of the Baltimore artist's earlier releases and celebrates Black gay love – with blissful results

8.0 / 10

The Ty Dolla $ign and Björk collaborator’s brief sophomore LP is his gentlest, warmest work yet.

Latest from Josiah Wise, aka Serpentwithfeet, is 'Deacon,' which unfolds like a party record for people partying alone in their living room.

‘DEACON’ looks for hope in love, much like in the spirituality that birthed it.

Irish artist David Balfe’s solo debut is a staggering expression of love for a friend, while Death from Above’s latest album isn’t as boundary-pushing as previous efforts

Only love and happiness remain on serpentwithfeet’s second album 'DEACON', a carefree R&B affair featuring Sampha, Lil Silva, and Nao.

On Blisters and Soil, heartache seemed fundamental to serpentwithfeet's music, whether he was moving toward it or away from it.

8 / 10

The repurposing of gospel music defines Josiah Wise's alter ego serpentwithfeet, reconciling his religious upbringing with his sexual identi...

We have come to expect that serpentwithfeet will let us into the most vulnerable and personal spaces within his music.

7.5 / 10

On Josiah Wise’s second full length release as serpentwithfeet, conflicts are set aside in a simple celebration of Black queer relationships.

9 / 10

serpentwithfeet - born Josiah Wise – made heartbreak his own with debut EP ‘blisters’ and 2018’s full-length ‘soil’,

8 / 10

On DEACON, Serpentwithfeet exercises his ambition quietly, resulting in a contemporary update of the genuine soul classic

The artist scales back the divine aspirations and melodramatic tendencies, resulting in his most secular work to date.

8 / 10

Part of why serpentwithfeet's DEACON is so remarkable - aside from its obvious musical merits - is that it's a rare record that highlights Black queer love.

This poppy, life-affirming ode to gay domestic bliss is a paean to black people ‘living their damn life anyhow’

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Album Reviews: serpentwithfeet - DEACON

84 %