Built on that confidence and a bold, uncompromising vision singular in scope and execution, Freetown Sound stands concurrently as a deeply personal work and a striking representation of the struggles present in today’s society.
It’s melodically strong enough, and bursting with so many ideas that it feels incredibly timeless: futuristic and classic all at once.
A sprawling, cut-and-paste, idea-rich album that moves the listener as much physically as emotionally, coating the harsh truths and lyrical pills here with clean, honeyed production and uptempo, undeniable rhythms.
Dev Hynes' third album as Blood Orange is a searing and soothing personal document, striking the same resonant chords as Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp a Butterfly or D’Angelo’s Black Messiah.
A song cycle tackling identity, racism, sexism, gender politics and more, Freetown Sound is a hurricane of ideas cushioned within Blood Orange’s quiet storm of sounds.
It is Hynes' ability to use such a variety of guest artists to complement, rather than overpower, his own work that is major factor in Freetown Sound's victory. When coupled with a powerful message and masterful vocal and instrumental arrangements, the result is Dev Hynes best work under any of his musical guises.
Even if not every moment on Freetown Sound is musically stunning, there isn’t a second of the LP that’s dispensable.
His most ambitious project to date, Freetown Sound is undoubtedly Hynes’ opus, albeit an imperfect one, and cements his position as one of the most distinctive figures in leftfield pop.
There's some blurring over 17 tracks, but as a whole piece, Freetown Sound is a record with unusually sharp focus.
If Hynes had chosen to make the power of femininity the basis of this album it would be pretty much flawless ... But the single issue that undermines the cohesiveness of ‘Freetown Sound’ is Hynes’ decision to publicise it as an album about black identity, which it really isn’t.
Freetown Sound is a clapback, a healing song, a historical re-embodiment of the (infinite number of) (also) black experience(s) contained within the vantage of a single individual.
The voice Hynes has cultivated as Blood Orange is purely his own, and on Freetown Sound, he has learned to project it in an impactful array of harmonies.
Freetown Sound is one deep avant-pop mixtape, a masterpiece of composition, curation and choreography addressing present-day black art and experience while refusing limits at every turn.
It may be a touch overlong and that relentlessly 80s production won’t be for everyone’s ears, but this is a triumph. Who knows where Hynes will end up once the trend for R&B fades away but Freetown Sound is proof he’ll be annoyingly successful at it.
It’s a collection of unsightly surveillances expressed in a magnificent manner, and the work of a man more than capable of out-creating himself.
If it's a little too impressionistic to last the 17-track distance, then Freetown Sound still seduces.
Freetown Sound certainly has the sprawl, hyperactivity, and potential of a personal masterwork, but its master is more conduit and conductor than confessor.
Ultimately the record is so personal, that the only one to understand every layer is Hynes' himself. As a result Freetown Sound can come across as weighty, undecipherable chaos to some. But for anyone who can relate to him on some level, it's hard not to be in awe of a man as complicated as Devonté Hynes being able to compose such an insightful, personal experience.
There’s certainly more highlight than filler contained in Freetown Sound and it is, ultimately, an album that deserves to be heard.
Devonté Hynes’s latest outing as Blood Orange takes the soft-soul stylings of 2013’s Cupid Deluxe and mashes them together with African voices and percussion, saxophones and vox populi samples to create a sonic collage that seeks to marry the vision of Marvin Gaye with the methods of Frank Zappa.
Blood Orange makes an ambitious return with Freetown Sound.
Perhaps it’s almost too personal a project: in fact, listening to Freetown Sound feels not unlike reading someone’s diary. It’s often passionate, illuminating and fascinating, it frequently bears the hallmarks of self-indulgence, and some of it, you get the feeling, might only make sense to its author.
Hynes seems more interested in smothering Freetown Sound with spoken-word samples rather than honing the songs.
wow i really fuckin love this. it's spellbinding from the first note, pulling you in and never letting you go. it feels like silk being poured into your ears, lulling you to a place of pure bliss. blood orange always had a good voice, but here it shines through even more. it's so beautiful and controlled, liking he's been mastering his craft since forever. his voice meshes with the production too, causing these great moment of pure synchronization. it does get a bit slow in the middle, but even ... read more
Blood Orange finally refines his sound, as a result, we get this really groovy and soulful record made to drive at night too.
Best Track: Squash Squash
Worst Track: By Ourselves
[77.94] In an album Hynes states "was made for the underappreciated", the sound and composure of the record is much more experimental than his previous and unearths a part of what I think Blood Orange is supposed to stand for, that just had not been shown yet. The political statement that exists here and on Negro Swan is heard loud and clear, and isn't lost in the pop-chants and saxophone solos that lead both albums to a greatness in their fields. Blood Orange on Freetown Sound and ... read more
Немного раздутый, но при этом очень атмосферный и воздушный R&B альбом. У Дивонтэ есть свой четко выраженный звук, сладкий вокал и умение написать цепкую песенку про любовь, а иногда и поднять в ней волнующую его социальную тему. Всё это привлекает меня в его музыке. Но всё ... read more
Personal Favorite(s): Hydron Collider
Standout tracks(s): Augstine, Chance, Best To You, Hydron Collider, Squash Squash, Juicy 1-4, Better Than Me and I Know
Forgettable track(s): None
1 | By Ourselves 2:12 | 84 |
2 | Augustine 3:51 | 87 |
3 | Chance 2:48 | 83 |
4 | Best To You 3:45 feat. Empress Of | 92 |
5 | With Him 1:25 | 84 |
6 | E.V.P. 5:43 | 88 |
7 | Love Ya 2:47 | 80 |
8 | But You 3:01 | 81 |
9 | Desirée 3:00 | 84 |
10 | Hands Up 4:09 | 84 |
11 | Hadron Collider 3:43 | 90 |
12 | Squash Squash 3:37 | 87 |
13 | Juicy 1-4 4:35 | 81 |
14 | Better Than Me 3:16 | 89 |
15 | Thank You 3:03 | 82 |
16 | I Know 4:34 | 86 |
17 | Better Numb 3:01 | 77 |
#5 | / | Gaffa (Norway) |
#5 | / | Under the Radar |
#6 | / | Esquire (US) |
#7 | / | Crack Magazine |
#7 | / | Dazed |
#7 | / | Northern Transmissions |
#7 | / | The Wild Honey Pie |
#7 | / | Time Out New York |
#8 | / | TIME |
#9 | / | Gaffa (Sweden) |