Moses Sumney Puts The Industry Behind Him And Explores The In-Between On 'Grae'

Moses Sumney spent years searching for the sound on his new, double album grae. It began in 2013, when he first tried to break into the Los Angeles music scene — and got interest from record labels almost immediately.

"I expected to spend many years totally grinding in obscurity," Sumney says of his early experience in the music industry. "So, in a lot of ways, it was living the dream, 'making it,' making a name for myself in the music industry — but also discovering that it's not all it's cracked up to be."

The experience didn't sit right with him. Sumney felt typecast by the labels, pushed into a certain image while he was still searching for his own unique sound. So he turned the labels down, eventually moving to Asheville, N.C. and away from the hub of the music industry. That resistance to labels is reflected in Sumney's music: Across two discs, grae is all about defying expectation, genre and categorization.

NPR's Ailsa Chang spoke to Moses Sumney about his early experiences as a musician, the effect of moving to Asheville on his artistic process and the new record he describes as "a concept album about grayness." Listen to the radio version at the audio link above and read on for a transcript of the interview.

This interview has