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Moses Sumney Is a Soul-Folk Warrior in Striking ‘Replaceable’ Video

Moses Sumney 'Replaceable' Video Mochilla

Moses Sumney is a one-man soul-folk orchestra in the stunning clip for “Replaceable.” No joke: the last time SPIN saw the 23-year-old Los Angeleno, he was in a small room with us interviewing Justin Timberlake about the new Myspace on behalf of LA Weekly, where he was an intern. That was less than a year ago, and yet there he is above with nothing but a looping pedal and his silken voice, constructing a beautiful break-up song from scratch in a single-take, overdub-free clip shot by revered rap photographer Brian “B+” Cross (J Dilla, Eazy-E, DJ Shadow).

As the interview that accompanies the Vimeo post explains, B+ caught Sumney’s opening set at the June L.A. residency of rising neo-soul trio KING and decided to introduce himself. In the chat, we also learn that Sumney is self-taught, and grew up splitting time between Southern California and Ghana. Also, he’s a huge India.Arie fan, though we hear strains of Dirty Projectors, TV on the Radio, and tUnE-yArDs as well. L.A. locals can catch Moses and KING at the Bootleg Theater on Friday, August 2. The rest of us will just have to watch this — on loop.