Back in 2022, Moses Sumney shocked supporters when he announced plans to semi-retire from music. But as he told Consequence, his musical hiatus was to pursue another set of professional aspirations. Well, Sumney’s exploration into other artistic disciplines landed him in community with playwright and now feature film director Alesha Harris.
A film adaptation of Harris’ award-winning piece, Is God Is, which stars an all-star lineup of actors including Emmy Award winner Sterling K. Brown, Vivica A. Fox, and Actor Awards (formerly SAG Award) winner Janelle Monáe, has earned critical acclaim. At the helm of the motion picture’s soundtrack were none other than Moses Sumney and composer Joseph Shirley.
During an interview the Hollywood Reporter, Sumney opened up about his experience scoring Is God Is.
Sumney opened the conversation bluntly, admitting that he did not want the position. But the reason for his hesitation isn’t what you might believe.
“I never wanted to score movies,” confessed Sumney. “I’ve scored short films, and it’s always been a lovely experience, but even just from that, I’m always like, ‘OK, this is really hard.'”
Eventually Sumney got on board, and that was thanks to his overwhelming belief in the script.
“It was just so undeniably brilliant,” added Sumney. “I had a meeting with Aleshea early on, and I could see that she was such a brilliant mind.
He went on to talk about the creative process and working alongside Joseph Shirley.
“It was largely about making choices that aren’t obvious,” Sumney chimed. “Me and Joe Shirley decided early on that a great identity for the soundtrack would be to build a lot of the sounds out of my voice.”
The Is God Is Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is out now via Amazon Content Services, under exclusive license to Soundtrack Records (Lakeshore Records). Click here to stream now. Continue below to view the Is God Is Original Motion Picture Soundtrack cover and tracklist.
Is God Is starring Sterling K. Brown, Vivica A. Fox, Janelle Monáe, and Kara Young, is out in theaters now. Find your local showtimes here.
Is God Is Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Tracklist
- “Sins of the Father” by Moses Sumney and Kara Jackson
- “Don’t Leave Me Be” by Moses Sumney
- “Bang! Bang! Bang!” by Moses Sumney
- “Man’s Blues” by Moses Sumney
- “Bargain”
- “Twintuition”
- “The Letter”
- “Meeting God”
- “Them Twins Burnin”
- “Make Your Daddy Dead”
- “The Mission”
- “White Teeth”
- “Ezekiel”
- “Mirage”
- “The Good House”
- “Angie”
- “His Other Family”
- “Man”
- “Somebody Gotta Go Today”
Is God Is Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Cover
