DEACON OF LIGHT
So, your partner appears in the music video for Same Size Shoe,” I nonchalantly state – before serpentwithfeet corrects me: “Well, that’s actually not my boyfriend.” After removing my foot from my mouth, I apologise for not getting my facts straight. “No, no, no, it’s fine, it’s fine… I guess we [my co-star and I] did our jobs,” he smiles.
The convincing performance brings to life the song that best captures the spirit and fluttering heartbeat of serpentwithfeet’s gorgeous second album, Deacon, out now, an unabashed celebration of Black gay love.
After striking fertile ground with his 2018 debut, soil – avant-garde RnB wreathed around tracks about heartbreak and loss – the LA-based singer, aka Josiah Wise, lays down fresh roots for his softer, quieter follow-up, which finds him in a happier place, trilling about friendship, romance and the joys of sex.
The man is even inspired by birdsong and, at one point during our video call, he recreates the chirruping of his feathered friends (not going to lie, it felt rather lovely to be serenaded).
Shrugging off his initial concerns about coming across as “corny” with his latest record, serpentwithfeet, 32, opens up about owning his sexuality, properly writing about sex for the first time, and continuing the work of the Black gay men who blazed trails before him.
How would you describe your new album, Deacon? Is there a story you’re trying to tell?
I don’t think I’m trying to tell any story. It’s more so, like, a study of energy, a study of
