Six years after Dark Matter put him on the Mercury Prize shortlist, Moses Boyd is back with the record he says he has wanted to make since he first got into music. Songs For Sinners, the London drummer, composer and producer's second album, came out on October 30 via Exodus. It is a gospel record, a jazz record and a soundsystem record all at once, and it arrives with a new video for the focus track War featuring the singer Raelle.
Sacred music without the rulebook
Boyd grew up in a Pentecostal household, where rhythm, harmony and devotion were the same thing. Gospel was his first musical language long before jazz widened the map. The album asks a simple question: what can sacred music sound like when it is no longer bound by convention? His answer folds in jazz improvisation, Caribbean rhythms, 808s, London bass culture and big choir harmonies, and none of it feels like a history lesson.
The idea goes back to when he was sixteen. He wanted a record where the emotional pull of gospel and jazz could live side by side with modern production, inspired by Kirk Franklin, Sounds of Blackness, Fred Hammond and Tye Tribbett. It took years before he felt ready, and the quiet of the pandemic finally gave him room to think about faith, community and how people look for meaning when things are uncertain.
War, and the Sade idea
War is about looking inward at the battles everyone fights privately. Boyd has said he did not want the album to hide from the fact that, for many people, faith comes with complicated or painful experiences. Musically he imagined writing and producing a song for Sade, and the moment he heard Raelle's voice he knew she was the one to carry it. The result is slow, warm and heavy in the best way. Watch it on his official YouTube channel.
A kitchen choir and a deep bench
Boyd wrote every lyric on the record himself so the songs would stay personal and open to interpretation. The guest list includes US rapper Chuck Strangers, Raelle, Amber-Simone and Steam Down's SHANTÉH. The most moving part comes from home: his own family sings as the album's kitchen choir, recorded together in the house, and their voices sit next to professional gospel singers. There is no sermon here. Each song is left open so the listener can bring their own story to it.
The twelve tracks run Precious, War, More To Life, Say Yeah, Saviour, Criticise, Praise, Guess I'll Be Alright, I Surrender All (Interlude), I Surrender, It Is Well and I Believe. Criticise, Say Yeah and More To Life arrived first, and Boyd recently made his solo UK TV debut on Later with Jools Holland with an expanded band. The cover art is by Ibrahem Hasan.
Where to hear it
Stream or buy it via the official album link or go straight to the album on Spotify, and check his official site for the spring 2027 European and UK tour, which includes a night at Koko in London on April 1, 2027. Going back to his earlier work only makes the jump clearer, from Rye Lane Shuffle through Dark Matter to a record this big.
Why it matters
This one is Surfacing. Boyd has been one of the engines of the London jazz scene for a decade, and Songs For Sinners is the moment he steps out front as a songwriter. If you want to go deeper into the music behind it, start with our Original Jazz Classics starter guide and the Meze Audio Poet Jazz Special Edition headphones.
