GRIP SEQUEL

The Baltimore native spent his teenage years training to become an opera singer; later, he spent time in Philadelphia’s neo-soul scene and released his debut EP, 2016’s *blisters*, on the experimental electronic label Tri Angle. Since then, serpentwithfeet’s sacred/profane music has had the scope to take in his big ideas and sweeping influences, though his third album, 2024’s *GRIP*, nudged his “pagan gospel” music into much freakier territory. That album embraced turn-of-the-century R&B à la Timbaland and Darkchild to tell a strobe-lit love story that unfolded in the shadows of the club. A year later, the nine new tracks of *GRIP SEQUEL* showcase serpent at his most vulnerable (literally, in the case of “SEAGULL,” where he romps naked on the beach). “My heart, the ocean, mostly unexplored/My body, cold metal, longing to be forged,” he sings on the hushed, impressionistic “WANDERER.” That classical training shines through on “WRITHING IN THE WIND” over understated piano and a faint Jersey club beat, as he exhales, “A mangled heart writhing in the wind/Let me mend it.”