Dev Hynes, aka Blood Orange, is back with his 4th studio album, Negro Swan. This emotional & strongly identity driven body of work is perfect background music for the Spring & Summer, especially after this wild year. Blood Orange is known for using a progression of gut wrenchingly beautiful chords & simple but powerful melodies in his music. This album is no exception. The tone of what Blood Orange produces & composes is always so pure & nostalgic, you can almost physically feel the music on your skin. That might be goosebumps, but I said what I said.
The singles, Charcoal Baby & Jewelry, embody the moods for the album as a whole. Jewelry is one of the most melodic songs I’ve ever heard in my life & Blood Orange’s ability to transform a series of notes from all types of acoustic instruments & synthesisers into a pure feeling or mood never fails to astound me. The video for Jewelry probably the coolest thing I’ve seen this year so far, dawning an actual Negro Swan riding through New York City.
The concept of the album is explicitly explained in the spoken interludes, summed up as an account of Blood Orange’s experiences of depression, while having to perform his social identity as a black man in America. Truly moving, & truly beautiful.
Connect with Blood Orange:
Website – Soundcloud – Youtube – Instagram – Twitter – Facebook – Apple Music – Spotify
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