“Pray For Me” by Sault

At the end of 2024, enigmatic UK music collective Sault dropped Acts of Faith, a nine-song cornucopia of classic soul, jazz, and R&B that’s filled with soulful vocals and gorgeous — and gorgeously funky — arrangements. “Pray For Me” closes out the album, a seven-minute piece that finds its vocalist (Little Simz, maybe?) apparently torn between her desire for her partner and her devotion to her Heavenly Father.

“Will you wait for me?/If I don’t change the way that God is making me,” she implores before declaring “You’re the one who madе me and I’m your child/All these bridgеs need to burn so I can walk in your light.” Meanwhile, the song moves at a graceful pace, with sparse beats serving as a foundation for plaintive strings. The struggle between the flesh and the spirit has never sounded quite so lovely.

Note: The songs on Acts of Faith were originally revealed during the group’s first (and, to date, only) live performance, back in December 2023; watch it here.