Serpentwithfeet's Tight 'GRIP' On The Bedroom & Club Makes His New LP A Very Sultry Affair

On GRIP, R&B and electronic songwriter serpentwithfeet aims to draw a throughline between the club and the bedroom. The Baltimore-born songwriter unites the feeling of closeness, community, and catharsis that exists in both spaces, building a sonic template inspired by rap and R&B production from the early 2000s to create this cohesion.

Whereas serpent’s 2021 LP DEACON was filled with ballads — odes to love and love lost — the songs here are more sultry and personal. GRIP consists of reflections instead of memories. Deeply personal and yet endlessly inviting, serpentwithfeet shows a deft ability to make the communal seem like a whisper between lovers and a shared secret inclusive to everyone.

Though the record isn’t as electro-tinged as past serpentwithfeet albums, the songwriter also known as Josiah Wise begins the record with a club-ready banger. “Damn Gloves” features Ty Dolla $ign and Yanga Yaya and accents the more sexually charged aspects of the record. “Kiss you longer, longer than a opera,” serpent sings before adding: “I don’t need no weed/ I don’t need no liquor/ I just wanna keep grind grindin on my n-gga.”

The album is almost divided between moments of love and lust, with Wise moving back and forth between what he desires. In this sense, the two locations of the album — the club and the bedroom— act almost as opposites. In one, ecstasy and hedonism reign, in the other, deep connections and complex feelings loom large.

“Spades” sounds like it could have been featured on a Justin Timberlake album in the mid-2000s; the drums have that signature Timbaland knock. On the cut, serpent croons: “Loved you since I was 17 years old/ I’m not ashamed that these feelings won’t go.” These feelings turn into statements of gratitude as the singer adds: “So glad life ain’t turn you to stone/ Got a new zip code/ But boy, you still feel like home.”

Elsewhere, serpentwithfeet trades in these intimate recollections for delightful narrative driven slices of life. On the Mick Jenkins-assisted “Black Air Force” he cues up another early 2000s R&B beat, big dawging an anonymous friend, lover, or simply anyone looking for some positive affirmations. “Got everybody in your pocket/ I’m hoping that you clocked it/ You’re not broke if your spirit ain’t/ Pants might be torn but your heart ain’t,” he spits.

Whether singing for a lover down in the dumps or a fan 3,000 miles away, everyone deserves to have a champion like serpentwithfeet. On GRIP, the singer-songwriter has a voracious appetite to be loved, but equally apparent is his capacity to give love, too. This is an album of romance and sexuality, but in these general terms is a symphony of emotions and feelings. serpentwithfeet has an unbridled want to love, however, he wishes to be celebrated and not judged for these desires.

RELEASE DATE: February 16, 2024

RECORD LABEL: Secretly Canadian

Listen to GRIP below: