Blood Orange's songwriter, Dev Hynes, announced a new mixtape called Angel’s Pulse earlier this week on his Instagram, and today, the 14-track project has finally been released. The album is being called a "mixtape" in this context because it serves as an epilogue, or closing statement, to his last album, Negro Swan, which featured the likes of A$AP Rocky, Steve Lacy, Puff Daddy, and Project Pat. The multitalented offered further details on his new mixtape in a note accompanying the announcement, saying: "My new record is called “Angel’s Pulse” & I performed, produced and mixed the entire thing myself. I’m calling it a mixtape. I have a habit through the years of making records that I just give to friends, or on tape to people on the street, or no one. Usually this material is made directly after the album I’ve just put out. Somewhat of an epilogue to the thing I’ve made before. This time.. I decided to release it. I put as much work and care into it as I do with the albums I’ve released, but for some reason trained myself into not releasing things the rate at which I make them. I’m older now though, and life is unpredictable and terrifying… so here you go mates."
Ahead of the mixtape's arrival, Hynes dropped the standout single "Gold Teeth," with Project Pat, Tinashe, & Gangsta Boo, just a taste of all the big and exciting names that would feature on the project - including Toro Y Moi, Justine Sky, and Benny Revival (the epic masked dancer and rapper). Just like its name would suggest, the tape is indeed ethereal, with Blood Orange's signature dream-like vocals and backing tracks, and abstract, otherworldly lyrics which touch upon difficult, but significant subjects (such as the tragedy of the white supremacist 16th St. Baptist Church Bombing that took place in 1963, in Birmingham, Alabama, in the self titled song "Birmingham). The features all show up ready to deliver with strong and captivating vocals to match Hynes'. The album as a whole weaves through genres, but in such a seamless and effortless way so that each track takes on its own identity, but remains cohesive to the project as a whole.
