Singer-songwriter Moses Sumney resonates with his ethereal falsetto

Moses Sumney is the headliner at the Echo in Los Angeles on July 30, 2015.

By Brendan Hornbostel

July 28, 2015 3 AM PT

When Moses Sumney was at UCLA, his voice would echo off the walls of underground parking structures during his performances for sparse crowds of students.

Three years later, as Sumney prepares for a sold-out headlining gig at the Echo on Thursday, his ethereal falsetto continues to resonate whether on tour with the likes of Sufjan Stevens and Karen O or on his SoundCloud channel, where he has 12,000 followers.

Despite all the acclaim he’s garnered from local and national audiences, though, the folk singer-songwriter still sees his music as being in its infancy.

“I don’t think I’m at all where I want to be. I think I’m getting there,” Sumney said at his new home in the Mount Washington neighborhood of Los Angeles. “I always characterize myself as precocious. I do see myself as so new still.”

Since 2013, when he quit his day job as social media director of California Pizza Kitchen to pursue music full time, the 25-year-old has toured with Local Natives and performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall as part of Beck’s “Song Reader” project. He’s also scheduled to open for Erykah Badu and St. Vincent at the Hollywood Bowl on Aug. 30.

But Sumney hasn’t rushed to sign a record deal or release a full-length album (in 2014, he put out a five-track EP, “Mid-City Island,” which was released digitally and on cassette). He attributes this patience to his quest to create music that doesn’t just impress audiences but that impresses him most of all.

“From where I stand now, it could be easy to have a career,” Sumney said. “I would’ve released an album two years ago if it wasn’t necessary for me to make something that was intricately interesting.”

Sumney is his own harshest critic, disappointed when he feels his music doesn’t add to the conversation of art.

“I’m always still questioning, ‘Am I making something good?’ That’s the part I’m not sold on yet,” he said. “Because I know people like me, but I don’t know that I’m making something good. … I don’t know yet if my music is vital.”

Sumney created “Mid-City Island” on a 4-Track cassette recorder in his bedroom. He said the recording process, including the first-take track “Mumblin’,” interested him by adding elements unusual to a pop song, whether through uncommon chord progressions or vocal loops and processors.

In May, Sumney debuted his latest single, “Seeds,” which was produced by Grizzly Bear bassist Chris Taylor. A seven-inch single with the B-side “Please” is planned for Taylor’s Terrible Records at the end of summer.

Sumney said that when he first wrote “Seeds,” with a simple, picked guitar over his airy, floating voice, he didn’t quite understand what made the track interesting to his ears. With “Seeds” approaching 200,000 plays on SoundCloud and quickly becoming his most recognized tune, Sumney said he came to appreciate the intricacy of his own creation.

“It’s so layered and there’s so many little things in there,” he said. “You can listen to it two or three times, and you will not have heard all the little twists and turns, because a lot of them are subtle.”

During performances, Sumney has impressed listeners with his use of vocal improvisation, an element he considers crucial to his musical expression.

“It’s just about following the music and letting the music speak and take you where it wants to take you,” Sumney said. “It’s not about thinking about it, it’s just about feeling it.”

Through improvisation, Sumney said his most honest feelings seep through.

“I get the most from creating art when I feel like I’m creating from an intimately personal place,” he said.

As Sumney continues to work on his first studio album, which he hopes to release early next year, he’s still searching for tunes that satisfy his high standards.

“What the last two years has taught me, from touring with Sufjan Stevens to touring with Karen O, playing with Beck, [is that] I am very grateful for all of these opportunities,” Sumney said. “But the only thing I truly care about is making something interesting. The only thing that impresses me is good music.

“Everything else is just an added bonus.”

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Moses Sumney

Where: The Echo, 1822 Sunset Blvd., L.A.

When: 8:30 p.m. Thursday

Cost: Sold out

Info: www.theecho.com

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