Moses Boyd’s Songs for Sinners Brings the Gospel Congregation Into London’s Club Underground

Moses Boyd’s second solo album arrives with a plain thesis: joy and communion heal. Songs for Sinners follows Dark Matter, the solo debut that landed on the eve of lockdown, sent a Mercury Prize nomination his way, and turned his frustration over deportation and NHS underfunding into a modern jazz record. The new one keeps the tension of its moment but answers it with warmth.

Boyd’s gospel upbringing is the engine. On “Say Yeah,” his family, credited as the kitchen choir and recorded at home, repeat a call to come together and give thanks over piano stabs lifted from house. “Praise” works the opposite way, letting the rhythm section sit back while hi-hats and a bassline carry the weight. Elsewhere the record loosens into funk and R&B: the Stevie Wonder-style synth squelch of “Criticise” with Amber-Simone, the easy bounce of “Guess I’ll Be Alright.”

London keeps intruding. “I Surrender” returns to its chorus over a trip-hop beat, “It Is Well” sets a cheerful title against a low dubstep rumble. This is the same instinct that has made Boyd a presence beside Sampha, Little Simz, and Sons of Kemet, whose Your Queen Is a Reptile he played drums on: bandleading as a way of folding a lifetime of listening into one package.

What holds it together is less a genre than a method. Congregation, dancefloor, and the darker streets in between, all kept in time by one drummer.