Græ

For other uses, see Grae.

Græ is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Moses Sumney. The double album was released in two parts by Jagjaguwar. The first part was released digitally on February 21, 2020, followed by the full album, including its second part, on May 15, 2020.

Græ
Studio album by Moses Sumney
Released	May 15, 2020 (2020-05-15)
Genre	Art pop[1] art rock[2][3] avant-jazz[4][5] classical[2][6] folk[1][2][6]
Length	65:44
Label	Jagjaguwar
Producer	Moses Sumney Adult Jazz Ben Baptie John Congleton FKJ Daniel Lopatin Matthew Otto
Moses Sumney chronology
Aromanticism (2017) Græ (2020)
Singles from Græ
"Virile" Released: November 14, 2019 "Polly" Released: December 13, 2019 "Me in 20 Years" Released: January 6, 2020 "Cut Me" Released: February 7, 2020 "Bless Me" Released: May 11, 2020

Græ features contributions from a wide range of musicians, writers and producers, including Daniel Lopatin, Thundercat, Jill Scott, James Blake, Taiye Selasi, John Congleton, Rob Moose, Ezra Miller, Michael Chabon, Matthew Otto, Ian Chang, and FKJ.

The album was preceded by five singles: "Virile", "Polly", "Me in 20 Years", "Cut Me", and "Bless Me".

Background and recording

Some of the songs on Græ, including "Virile", were recorded by Sumney with drummer Ian Chang of Son Lux and producer/engineer Ben Baptie at Echo Mountain Recording in Asheville, North Carolina.^[7] Sumney first lived in Asheville before and during the making of Aromanticism,^[8][9] and Græ is Sumney's first album since officially relocating to Asheville from Los Angeles.^[10] The album was mixed by Ben Baptie at Strongroom and mastered by Joe LaPorta at Sterling Sound.^[11]

Release

"Virile" was released as the album's first single on November 14, 2019.^[12] The album was announced the same day.^[13]

"Polly" was released as the second single on December 13, 2019,^[14] followed by "Me in 20 Years" on January 6, 2020,^[15][16] and "Cut Me" on February 7.^[17][18] Sumney made his US television debut with a performance of the latter track on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on February 11.^[19][20][21] The album's first part was released digitally on February 21.

"Bless Me" was released as the album's fifth and final single on May 11, 2020,^[22][23] with the full album released four days later.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.4/10[24]
Metacritic	90/100[25]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
The A.V. Club	B+[26]
DIY	[4]
Entertainment Weekly	A[2]
The Independent	[27]
NME	[1]
The Observer	(Part 1)[28] (Part 2)[3]
Pitchfork	8.6/10[29]
Q	(Part 1)[30] (Part 2)[31]
Uncut	8/10[32]

Græ received rave reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 from reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 90, based on 17 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".^[25] According to Metacritic, it was the 5th best-reviewed album of 2020.^[33] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave it 8.4 out of 10, based on their assessment of the critical consensus.^[24]

A. D. Amorosi of Variety praised the album, calling it a "magnificent, multi-genre mess in a dress of many colors" and "one of the year's boldest and best".^[34] Jenessa Williams of DIY gave the album a perfect score, calling it "complex, unconventional and ultimately, essential".^[4] Marcus J. Moore of Entertainment Weekly gave the album an A, writing, "græ finds him trying to be, well, everything, and through a convergence of folk, jazz, classical, and art-rock, along with his probing lyricism, Sumney has managed to produce a sonic marvel".^[2]

Max Freedman of The A.V. Club praised Part 1 for showcasing Sumney "step outside previous comfort zones" with "Conveyor", "Neither/Nor", and "Virile". However, Freedman criticized Part 2 as lacking the stylistic and thematic variety of Part 1 and for occupying "shockingly familiar musical territory" to that of the songs on Aromanticism.^[26]

Year-end lists

Year-end list accolades for Græ

Publication	List	Rank	Ref.
The A.V. Club	The 20 best albums of 2020	9	[35]
Clash	Albums of the Year 2020	24	[36]
Double J	The 50 best albums of 2020	22	[37]
Esquire (UK)	The 50 Best Albums of 2020	5	[38]
Exclaim!	50 Best Albums of 2020	16	[39]
The Fader	The 50 best albums of 2020	9	[40]
Gigwise	51 Best Albums of 2020	34	[41]
The Guardian	The 50 best albums of 2020	10	[42]
The Independent	The 40 best albums of 2020	5	[43]
The Line of Best Fit	The Best Albums of 2020	5	[44]
Los Angeles Times	The 10 best albums of 2020	7	[45]
Mojo	The 75 Best Albums of 2020	13	[46]
The New York Times	Jon Pareles' Best Albums of 2020	3	[47]
Paste	The 50 Best Albums of 2020	10	[48]
Pitchfork	The 50 Best Albums of 2020	3	[49]
Rolling Stone	The 50 Best Albums of 2020	18	[50]
Slant Magazine	The 50 Best Albums of 2020	35	[51]
Stereogum	The 50 Best Albums of 2020	40	[52]
Uncut	The Top 75 Albums of the Year	24	[53]
Under the Radar	Top 100 Albums of 2020	2	[54]

Track listing

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Græ.^[11]

Part 1

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Insula"	Moses Sumney Taiye Selasi Ayesha K. Faines	Sumney Daniel Lopatin[a]	0:46
2.	"Cut Me"	Sumney Adult Jazz Lopatin	Adult Jazz Sumney Lopatin[a]	4:10
3.	"In Bloom"	Sumney	Sumney Matthew Otto[a]	3:02
4.	"Virile"	Sumney YVETTE	Sumney Andrew Chugg[a] Ben Baptie[a] Lopatin[a]	4:16
5.	"Conveyor"	Sumney YVETTE	Sumney Andrew Chugg[a] Ben Baptie[a] Lopatin[a]	3:23
6.	"Boxes"	Michael Chabon Ezra Miller Faines Selasi Sumney	Sumney Lopatin[a]	1:22
7.	"Gagarin"	Sumney Esbjörn Svensson Dan Berglund Magnus Öström	Sumney Baptie[a]	5:54
8.	"Jill/Jack" (featuring Jill Scott)	Jill Scott Sumney	Sumney Lopatin[a]	1:33
9.	"Colouour"	FKJ Sumney	FKJ Sumney Lopatin[a]	3:07
10.	"Also Also Also And And And"	FKJ Sumney Selasi Miller	FKJ Sumney	1:31
11.	"Neither/Nor"	Sumney	Sumney Baptie John Congleton	5:26
12.	"Polly"	Sumney Tom Gallo	Sumney	3:38
Total length:				38:08

Part 2

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"Two Dogs"	Lopatin Sumney	Lopatin Sumney	3:56
14.	"Bystanders"	Sumney Otto Lopatin	Otto Sumney Lopatin[a]	4:14
15.	"Me in 20 Years"	Sumney Otto	Otto Sumney Lopatin[a]	3:40
16.	"Keeps Me Alive"	Sumney	Sumney	2:56
17.	"Lucky Me"	Sumney James Blake	Sumney Blake[a] Lopatin[a]	4:57
18.	"And So I Come to Isolation"	Selasi Sumney	Sumney Lopatin[a]	0:49
19.	"Bless Me"	Sumney	Sumney Congleton	4:59
20.	"Before You Go"	Selasi Michaela Coel Miller Sumney	Sumney	2:05
Total length:				27:36

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies an additional producer.
• "Insula", "Boxes", "Jill/Jack", "Also Also Also And And And", "And So I Come to Isolation" and "Before You Go" are stylized in all lowercase.
• "Gagarin" contains elements from "Gagarin's Point Of View", written by Esbjörn Svensson, Dan Berglund and Magnus Öström.
• "Jill/Jack" contains interpolations from "Cross My Mind", written by Jill Scott.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of Græ.^[11]

Musicians Moses Sumney – vocals (all singing and arrangement), piano (2, 3, 11), guitar (3, 11, 19), keyboards (8), bass (11), percussion (11), synthesizers (12), saxophone and flute arrangements (13), additional percussion (19), piano FX (20) Thundercat – bass (1, 3, 4, 18) Daniel Lopatin – synthesizers (1, 2, 9, 13–15, 18), bass (2), drum programming (2), keyboards (9) Rob Moose – strings (1, 3, 4, 17, 18), string arrangement (3, 4, 17) Keith Tutt II – strings (1, 18), cello (3, 4) Adult Jazz – bass (2), synthesizers (2), horns (2), piano (2) Brandon Coleman – bass (2), synthesizers (2, 19), piano (7), additional synthesizers (7) Ian Chang – drums (2, 4, 5, 11, 19), drum programming (2), percussion (11, 19) Jonathan Slater – horns (2) Jamire Williams – drums (3, 7, 8, 19) Matthew Otto – synthesizers (3, 14, 15) Noah Kardos-Fein – guitar (4, 5) Ben Baptie – drum programming (4, 5, 11, 19), additional synthesizers (7), piano FX (20) Brandee Younger – harp (4, 13, 18) Nubya Garcia – flute (4, 13) Mike Haldeman – guitar (5, 6, 19), guitar FX (7, 8) John Keek – saxophone (5, 6) Shahzad Ismaily – bass synthesizer (7), additional synthesizers (7), bass (8, 19, 20) FKJ – saxophone (9), keyboards (9), synthesizers (9), all instrumentation (10) Shabaka Hutchings – saxophone (9, 13) Tunde Jegede – kora (11) Tom Gallo – guitar (12) James Blake – drum programming (17), keyboards (17) John Congleton – guitar (19), additional percussion (19) Jamie Stewart – organ (19), drum programming (19)

Engineers Moses Sumney – engineering (1, 3–20) Daniel Lopatin – engineering (1, 13, 14, 17) Steph Marziano – engineering (2) Jake Viator – engineering (2, 5, 7, 8, 15, 19, 20) Ricardo Wheelock – engineering (2, 3, 7, 12, 15) Matthew Otto – engineering (3, 14, 15) Mac DeMarco – engineering (3) Andrew Chugg – engineering (4–6) Alexis Berthelot – engineering (4–6) Ben Baptie – engineering (4, 5, 11, 12, 19, 20), mixing Rashaan Carter – engineering (harp on 4, 13, 18) Simon Ribchester – engineering (5; piano on 11) FKJ – engineering (9, 10) Matt Cohn – engineering (9, 13, 17) Sean Cook – engineering (11, 19) Tom Gallo – engineering (12) James Blake – engineering (17) Tom Archer – mix assistance Joe LaPorta – mastering Artwork Moses Sumney – art direction Julian Gross – art direction, design Eric Gyamfi – photography

Charts

Chart performance for Græ

Chart (2020)	Peak position
Portuguese Albums (AFP)[55]	44
US Heatseekers Albums (Billboard)[56]	8
US Top Album Sales (Billboard)[57]	28