Gospel, desire and the beautiful art of surrender.
Love, lust, devotion and a little theatrical drama. serpentwithfeet is back with Sentinel, a new seven-track EP arriving December 4th via London’s One Little Independent Records. And this time, he’s taking matters of the heart somewhere rather interesting.
Blending experimental pop, gospel, blues and classical composition, the Baltimore-born artist explores the curious crossroads of intimacy, power, possession and eroticism. Inspired by the bonds forged between men in traditionally male-dominated spaces, Sentinel considers what happens when admiration turns into devotion, and surrender becomes its own love language.
There’s plenty beneath the surface, too. Drawing on his religious upbringing, gospel pioneers The Pilgrim Travelers and The Golden Gate Quartet, serpentwithfeet reconnects with the choral traditions that have shaped his unmistakable sound. Meanwhile, Audre Lorde’s Uses of the Erotic: The Erotic as Power and Nikki Giovanni’s poetry provide further inspiration for a project that sees love as something far more complex than a box of chocolates and a Spotify playlist.
Sentinel EP out December 4th via One Little Independent Records
The title track sets the mood with its marriage of spiritual harmonies and contemporary experimentation, while a special chamber-music rendition, recorded in a chapel, strips things back to reveal the song’s beautifully layered vocal arrangements. Think Gregorian chants meeting old-school Hollywood musical grandeur. Not exactly your average Sunday service.
Raised in the church in Baltimore, serpentwithfeet has long blurred the boundaries between sacred and sensual. From his critically acclaimed albums soil, DEACON and GRIP to collaborations with Björk, Daniel Caesar, Sampha and Nao, he’s consistently carved out a world entirely his own.
With Sentinel, he revisits familiar territory through a more mature lens, embracing vulnerability, theatricality and the wonderfully messy business of loving someone wholeheartedly. Turns out devotion comes in many shapes and sizes.
Lyrics_ Sentinel
he takes his time (what he do)
takes his time (what he do)
moves no quicker than this bass line
sings to his flower as he showers
im in awe, in awe
oh, sentinel of my heart
where do you come from ?
are you your grandfather’s favorite grandson ?
who did i do right by ?
how did i find a man with such gentle eyes ?
now the name i was given
is no longer fitting
call me satisfied
i am not who i was
who knew i’d find love
call me satisfied
He takes his time time (Tell us more)
Takes his time (tell us more)
My mans thorough as this bass line
Loves me like its the law
Transcribes our phone calls
And i choose him
I choose him
I’m the sentinel’s student
He is shaping me
now i’ve outgrown the graveyard
and set the sorrow free
He marshals street lights and stars
Does this so that our love won’t get lost when we’re local or when we’re far
now the name i was given
is no longer fitting
call me satisfied
i am not who i was
who knew i’d find love
call me satisfied
He’s the sentinel of our heart
He has our heart
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serpentwithfeet : Youtube | Bandcamp | Spotify | Instagram | Soundcloud
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