GRIP
The music of Josiah Wise lives at the intersection of sacred and profane. Since his 2016 debut EP, *blisters*, the Baltimore-born singer-songwriter has mastered his mode of gospel music for sinners—midnight music that shimmers like an oil slick, made to soundtrack the megachurch/nightclub hybrid that exists in his wildest fantasies. His third album, *GRIP*, begins in the club: a Black queer love story shown through a cool, controlled, voyeuristic lens. Picture a strobe-lit close-up of a hand placed on a waist, a bead of sweat trembling on a shoulder, as serpent coos over the four-on-the-floor thump of intro “Damn Gloves”: “Hold you closer, closer than those damn gloves/Kiss you longer, longer than an opera.” (He’s joined by frequent collaborator and fellow hedonist Ty Dolla $ign, along with the Cape Town soul singer Yanga YaYa.) Night softens into dawn, and lust blossoms into love over the course of *GRIP*’s 10 tracks, but the freakiness remains a constant: Over the kind of gently cascading beat Darkchild might’ve made for Brandy in the late ’90s, serpent delivers the lustiest line of early 2024: “If God is a god at all, he lives in your grip.”
The Los Angeles-based singer and producer trades the gospel of his previous work for sensual R&B, using the club as his canvas for tender odes to queer desire.
The Los Angeles-based singer and producer trades the gospel of his previous work for sensual R&B, using the club as his canvas for tender odes to queer desire.
For a record fixated on intention and intimacy, GRIP is held far behind makeshift walls of raves, Jersey club beats, and moments of inorganic beauty.
For a record fixated on intention and intimacy, GRIP is held far behind makeshift walls of raves, Jersey club beats, and moments of inorganic beauty.
serpentwithfeet's R&B-heavy third album is a celebration of Black queer nightlife that revels in adoration, flirtation and formative love.
serpentwithfeet's R&B-heavy third album is a celebration of Black queer nightlife that revels in adoration, flirtation and formative love.
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An exploration of queer love and lust, Los Angeles-based artist serpentwithfeet balances sultry seduction with a sonic blanket of softness and safety on
An exploration of queer love and lust, Los Angeles-based artist serpentwithfeet balances sultry seduction with a sonic blanket of softness and safety on
The soundtrack to Josiah White’s 2023 theatre production is exultant and uninhibited, but overly reliant on Auto-Tune and the odd dodgy guest spot
The soundtrack to Josiah White’s 2023 theatre production is exultant and uninhibited, but overly reliant on Auto-Tune and the odd dodgy guest spot
Serpentwithfeet – GRIP album review. Josiah Wise is continuing to celebrate gay Black love
Serpentwithfeet – GRIP album review. Josiah Wise is continuing to celebrate gay Black love