Spectreview: Blood Orange – Angel’s Pulse

-LIGHT CORAL-

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“Cryin’ for the ones I lost in ’18
IG3, 2014, unhappy
Nothing ever makes you get past it
33 and still can’t stop thinking”

It may not be fully evident now, but Dev Hynes may go down as one of the most influential artists of the 2010s.  Not even a few years ago, thanks in parts to hip-hop’s meteoric rise in popularity and groundbreaking works by artists like Frank Ocean, Miguel and Solange, a new paradigm reigned: one where R&B, a genre once locked to heart beats and muscle movements, now boasted a formidable intellectual edge. As the decade comes to a close, we’re still not sure what to call this new style, but we know we have people like Hynes to thank for prepping the road. Blood Orange’s first releases (2011’s Coastal Grooves and 2013’s breakthrough Cupid Deluxe) were demonstrations of Hynes’ unique take on R&B, as he engaged in a distinct humanity threatened to be erased as the genre moved through its electronic growing pains over the twenty years prior. That humanity comes across in the purposeful imperfections peppering his music: his unsteady, high-chested falsetto; his refusal to lock everything in quantization, his decisions to feature mostly lesser-known artists instead of the high-profile clientele he’s come to befriend as his career exploded. The buzzword is organic, and that’s not an entirely inaccurate description, but Hynes also makes these brilliant production choices to evoke his Sierra Leone ancestry, lending an intensely transportive quality to his work. Years after his first LP, his music still sounds fresh from the bedroom, and Angel Pulse is no exception.

Hynes promoted this new release as both a mixtape and as a direct epilogue to last year’s Negro Swan, though focusing on how this record relates to that one robs some of its standalone power. For one thing, it’s perhaps the smoothest release so far from an artist known for oblong pieces and left-turns. Almost devoid of any harsh stylistic lo-fi (save perhaps BennY RevivaL’s turn on “Seven Hours Part 1”), nearly every song flutters by smoothly, the windows rolled down for the breeze to flow in. Blood Orange records often take a few careful listens to kick in and make sense, but Angel Pulse’s relatively brief runtime and focus on engagingly silky textures makes this release more striking on first listen than Negro Swan, which was occasionally weighted down by overly-spacious balladry. Consistency comes at a price, of course: this is ultimately a record that lacks any clear highs like Negro Swan’s sensually poignant “Hope;” Freetown Sound’s conflicted ode to co-dependency in “Best to You;” or Cupid Deluxe’s flowing, sheer-curtained “Chamakay;” although the multi-guest, multi-versed “Gold Teeth” comes close. Hynes’ has always held focus on black empowerment and LGBT social issues (and its a focus that seems to get more valiant within each passing year’s increasingly turbulent politics) but he makes sure to pepper them into a greater narrative instead of letting those sentiments weigh down the record. Tracks like the solitary “Birmingham” and the status update of “Take It Back” are devastating in subject but are merely rest stops from what’s overall an AC-cooled drive by the ocean. It’s a product put together with the same level of craft and attention to detail that Hynes’ is now known for, and its label as a mixtape shouldn’t discount it as a standalone piece of work from a certifiable R&B auteur.

Recommended for any proximity to shining blue water.