Freetown Sound


Freetown Sound is the third studio album by Dev Hynes recording as Blood Orange. It was released on 28 June 2016, three days before its originally announced release date of 1 July 2016. The album contains guest appearances by Empress Of, Debbie Harry, Nelly Furtado, Kelsey Lu and Carly Rae Jepsen. The album cover is a 2009 photograph titled Binky and Tony Forever by American artist Deana Lawson.

Production

Freetown Sound takes its name from Freetown, Sierra Leone, where Hynes' father was born. The album features Carly Rae Jepsen, Zuri Marley, Debbie Harry, Nelly Furtado, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, slam poet Ashlee Haze, and others. When he first announced the album's release on Instagram, Hynes wrote that the album was intended for those who had been told they were "not black enough, too black, too queer, not queer the right way."

Promotion

The track "Hadron Collider", featuring Nelly Furtado, was released only as a cassette tape on 12 December 2015, and sold exclusively at his shows at the Apollo Theater in New York City.
A music video for "Augustine" was released on 28 June 2016, accompanying the release of the album. A video for "I Know" was released on 28 October 2016, followed by a video for "Better Than Me", featuring Carly Rae Jepsen, on 16 December 2016. On 24 March 2017, a music video/short film for the tracks "With Him", "Best to You", and "Better Numb" was released exclusively on the music streaming service TIDAL. The video also features Empress Of, appearing on behalf of her vocals on "Best to You".

Composition

Freetown Sound has been seen as a "deep" avant-pop work, as well as pulling in funk and 80s R&B sounds. It also works gospel, quiet storm's "subtle bluster", soca and soul into its mix.

Critical reception

The album was released to high critical acclaim and positive reviews. Writing for Exclaim!, Stephen Carlick praised the album, calling it "Hynes at his best, mixing his best songwriting and production yet to powerful, purposeful effect."
The album was shortlisted by IMPALA for the Album of the Year Award 2016, which rewards on a yearly basis the best album released on an independent European label.

Track listing

Sample credits

Personnel