Blood Orange - Freetown Sound
Critic Score
Based on 39 reviews
2016 Ratings: #105 / 1004
Year End Rank: #20
User Score
Based on 865 ratings
2016 Rank: #110
Liked by 60 people
Sign In to rate and review

CRITIC REVIEWS

100
The Irish Times
The soundtrack to such narratives of religion, race, sex and identity is a striking assortment of R&B balladry, spoken-word interludes, NYC jazz-noise, and subtle/ sweet traces of Prince-like pop.
100
A.V. Club
His anger at society’s hegemonic structure provided him with the fuel to create an album that works to burn down oppression while celebrating his blackness.
91
Consequence of Sound

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.

90
Drowned in Sound

It’s melodically strong enough, and bursting with so many ideas that it feels incredibly timeless: futuristic and classic all at once.

90
FasterLouder
Hynes is a voice of strength, a new Missy for a new generation of young people who live in fear of being shot down in the street, in a club, of being bullied and oppressed for who they are.
90
Exclaim!

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.

90
The Sydney Morning Herald
The album feels dense, even difficult, yet it's also the Blood Orange breakout, positioning Hynes as a definitive figure at the intersection of indie and R&B.
88
Pitchfork

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.

86
Northern Transmissions

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.

85
Under the Radar

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.

85
Spectrum Culture

Even if not every moment on Freetown Sound is musically stunning, there isn’t a second of the LP that’s dispensable.

80
SPIN
Where others with grave ideas to communicate — like, say, D’Angelo, Kendrick Lamar, or even punk acts like Downtown Boys — make their political aims pointed, insistent, and repetitive, Hynes’ message instead radiates outward. He sees problems and recounts them, tells his own story, and weighs the significance of narratives like his in the face of an oppressive world outside.
80
Crack Magazine

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.

80
NOW Magazine
The hallmarks of Blood Orange’s sound are all here – breathy male/female vocal interplay, rare groove rhythms, jazzy sax, gliding slap bass, honeyed falsetto melodies and flirty spoken word – but channelled into a reassuring, comfortable space that brings together pop’s supposed polarities of accessibility and specificity.
80
Mojo

There's some blurring over 17 tracks, but as a whole piece, Freetown Sound is a record with unusually sharp focus.

80
Dork
It’s always been easy to be impressed by Hynes work on a superficial level but this is something deeper, Hynes offers up everything about himself and his personal and political views, which makes this the first Blood Orange album that is essential listening.
80
Clash

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.

80
Tiny Mix Tapes

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.

80
Q Magazine
Sprawling, ambitious and politically conscious.
80
FLOOD Magazine

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.

80
Rolling Stone

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.

80
Record Collector

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.

80
NME
With ‘Freetown Sound’, he’s made something bold, challenging, uncompromising and overlong – an album, like the man who made it, that’s the sum of its parts and then some.
80
No Ripcord

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.

75
The Line of Best Fit
It’s an album that feels haphazard but one that is luckily more hit than miss, and an album that ultimately needs to be experienced.
75
The 405
It's a powerful thing when reports that would never have surfaced had not a safe place been made public, make one of the most sincere sonic statements of the year.
70
Loud and Quiet
‘Freetown Sound’ is trite and mawkish and far too sugary sweet. Then again, this is a kaleidoscopic tour of Hynes’ inner world, and who am I to say that he’s not as sweet as he is clever?
70
Uncut

If it's a little too impressionistic to last the 17-track distance, then Freetown Sound still seduces.

70
Slant Magazine

Freetown Sound certainly has the sprawl, hyperactivity, and potential of a personal masterwork, but its master is more conduit and conductor than confessor.

70
AllMusic

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.

70
PopMatters
For the record, it is his best and I have a feeling his next one—if he tightens up the sprawl—will be even better.
70
musicOMH

There’s certainly more highlight than filler contained in Freetown Sound and it is, ultimately, an album that deserves to be heard.

60
The Independent

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.

60
The Needle Drop

Blood Orange makes an ambitious return with Freetown Sound.

60
The Observer
Themes of exile, cultural confusion, Christianity and blackness permeate both generations, to which Hynes adds a hip-hop sensibility, sound collage, sexuality and#blacklivesmatter.
60
The Guardian

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.

60
DIY
That’s the frustration of ‘Freetown Sound’ – a record packed full of invention, innovation and perfectly executed production flourishes that would make even the most hardened major label crony sweat, it almost crumbles under the weight of its half-finished ideas.
60
Evening Standard

Hynes seems more interested in smothering Freetown Sound with spoken-word samples rather than honing the songs.

Host
90

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

MinatoArisato
70

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

GelatoM0
78

[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

iamcomplaining
76

Some wholesome moments, some less. A good experience overall

a_isaac_f
60

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

issei
70

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

Purchasing Freetown Sound from Amazon helps support Album of the Year. Or consider a donation?


Added on: June 7, 2016