Dev Hynes, best known for his work as Blood Orange, has been one of music's most elusive artists since first making his name during the Blog Era. The last full-length release he came through with was 2019's Angel's Pulse, a mixtape with contributions from artists like Project Pat, Gangsta Boo, Justin Skye, and Tinashe. Now, six years after his last mixtape and seven years since his last proper album (the great Negro Swan), Blood Orange is back in the game with the absolutely stunning Essex Honey.
Essex Honey hits high points that other albums in the Blood Orange back catalog have flirted with but not quite hit. It's a beautiful album that takes inspiration from several lanes, from darker pop sensibilities to his more R&B-oriented stylings. Hynes meditates on the ideas of growing older, seeing things and people change, and the regret/longing that comes from leaving where one grew up to live life.
But, the album still has a sense of freedom, despite its heavy subject matter, thanks to his own unique musical instincts. Tracks like "Mind Loaded" and "The Train (King's Cross)" offer different looks into Hynes' creativity. The former is a spacier, art pop track, while the latter is much more in line with the sounds of modern indie rock.
The feature list is lengthy, and all of them find their place to thrive on this album. There's Lorde and Mustafa, the latter of whom appears twice on the tracklist. Additionally, the typically fantastic Caroline Polachek, who has been a collaborator and friend of Blood Orange's for over a decade, has three spots on Essex Honey. There are several others as well, and they fit right in.
Essex Honey is a new pinnacle for Hynes, over two decades into his career and nearly fifteen years since he adopted the Blood Orange moniker. This should be on every music fan's radar, and is one to check out down below.
Blood Orange - Essex Honey
Essex Honey tracklist:
- Look At You
- Thinking Clean
- Somewhere In Between
- The Field (feat. Caroline Polachek, Daniel Caesar, The Durutti Column & Tariq Al-Sabir)
- Mind Loaded (feat. Caroline Polachek, Lorde & Mustafa)
- Vivid Light
- Countryside (feat. Eva Tolkin, Ian Isiah & Liam Benzvi)
- The Last Of England
- Life (feat. Charlotte Dos Santos & Tirzah)
- Westerberg (feat. Eva Tolkin & Liam Benzvi)
- The Train (King's Cross) (feat. Caroline Polachek)
- Scared Of It (feat. Ben Watt & Brendan Yates)
- I Listened (Every Night)
- I Can Go (feat. Mabe Fratti & Mustafa)
