''Freetown Sound'' is the third album by

Dev Hynes Devonté Hynes (born David Joseph Michael Hynes, 23 December 1985), also known as Blood Orange and formerly Lightspeed Champion, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, composer and director based in New York City. From 2004 to 2006, ...

recording as

Blood Orange The blood orange is a variety of orange (fruit), orange with crimson, near blood-colored flesh. It is one of the sweet orange varieties (Citrus × sinensis, ''Citrus'' × ''sinensis''). It is also known as the raspberry orange. The dark flesh ...

. It was released on 28 June 2016, three days before its originally announced release date of 1 July 2016.Chris Payne
"Blood Orange Releases New Album 'Freetown Sound' Three Days Early: Listen"
''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'', 28 June 2016. The album contains guest appearances by

Empress Of Lorely Rodriguez (born October 19, 1989), known professionally as Empress Of, is a Honduran-American singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer based in Los Angeles, California. She has released four studio albums: her critically accla ...

Debbie Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble, July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie (band), Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1 ...

Nelly Furtado Nelly Kim Furtado ( , ; born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She has sold over 45 million records, including 35 million in album sales worldwide, making her one of the most successful Canadian artists. Critics have noted ...

, Kelsey Lu and

Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After studying musical theatre for most of her school life and while in university, Jepsen garnered mainstream attention after placing third on the fifth season of ...

. 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 Freetown () is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational an ...

, where Hynes' father was born. The album features

, Zuri Marley,

, writer

Ta-Nehisi Coates Ta-Nehisi Paul Coates ( ; born September 30, 1975) is an American author, journalist, and activist. He gained a wide readership during his time as national correspondent at ''The Atlantic'', where he wrote about cultural, social, and political is ...

, slam poet Ashlee Haze, and others.Hua Hsu
"Blood Orange and the Sound of Identity,"
''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'', 4 July 2016. When he first announced the album's release on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

, 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

, was released only as a cassette tape on 12 December 2015, and sold exclusively at his shows at the

Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater (formerly the Hurtig & Seamon's New Theatre; also Apollo Theatre or 125th Street Apollo Theatre) is a multi-use Theater (structure), theater at 253 125th Street (Manhattan), West 125th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of U ...

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

, 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

, appearing on behalf of her vocals on "Best to You".

Composition

''Freetown Sound'' has been seen as a "deep"

avant-pop Avant-pop is popular music that is experimental, new, and distinct from previous styles while retaining an immediate accessibility for the listener. The term implies a combination of avant-garde sensibilities with existing elements from popular ...

work, as well as pulling in

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

and

80s Ribosomes are a large and complex molecular machine that catalyzes the synthesis of proteins, referred to as translation. The ribosome selects aminoacylated transfer RNAs (tRNAs) based on the sequence of a protein-encoding messenger RNA (mRNA) an ...

R&B sounds. It also works

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

quiet storm Quiet storm is a radio format and genre of R&B, performed in a smooth, romantic, jazz-influenced style. It was named after the title song on Smokey Robinson's 1975 album '' A Quiet Storm''. The radio format was pioneered in 1976 by Melvin Li ...

's "subtle bluster", soca and

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

into its mix.

Critical reception

The album was released to high critical acclaim and positive reviews. Writing for ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...

'', 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 The impala or rooibok (''Aepyceros melampus'', lit. 'black-footed high-horn' in Ancient Greek) is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus '' Aepyceros'', and tribe Aepycerotini, it ...

(The Independent Music Companies Association) for the Album of the Year Award 2016, which rewards on a yearly basis the best album released on an independent European label.

Accolades

Track listing

Sample credits * "By Ourselves" contains samples from "Myself When I Am Real" written by

Charles Mingus Charles Mingus Jr. (April 22, 1922 – January 5, 1979) was an American jazz Double bass, upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective Musical improvisation, improvisation, he is considered one of ...

and the poem "For Colored Women" by Ashlee Haze. * "With Him" contains samples from the 1995 documentary film '' Black Is... Black Ain't''. * "E.V.P" contains samples from "Chief Inspector" written by

Wally Badarou Waliou Jacques Daniel Isheola "Wally" Badarou (born 22 March 1955) is a French musician. Born in France with ancestry from Benin, West Africa, Badarou is known for his close association with the English group Level 42, and for his prolific wor ...

from his "Echoes" album. * "Love Ya" contains samples from an interview with

. * "Desirée" contains samples from the 1990 documentary film '' Paris Is Burning''. *"Hands Up" contains samples from an interview with

Vince Staples Vincent Jamal Staples (born July 2, 1993) is an American rapper. Born in Compton, California and raised in Long Beach, California, he first became known for his appearances on projects by Odd Future members—''Earl (mixtape), Earl'' by Earl Sw ...

. * "Thank You" contains samples from " Stakes Is High" by

De La Soul De La Soul ( ) is an American hip hop music, hip hop group formed in the village of Amityville on Long Island, New York (state), New York in 1988. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, eccentric lyrics, and contributions to the evoluti ...

Personnel

* Devonté Hynes – vocals , keyboards , piano , bass , drums ,

synths A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis an ...

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

, guitar , cello , drum programming ,

scratching Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and Turntablism, turntablist technique of moving a vinyl record back and forth on a phonograph, turntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. A crossfader on a DJ mixer may be used to ...

, percussion , vox , EWI ,

Juno Juno commonly refers to: *Juno (mythology), the Roman goddess of marriage and queen of the gods * ''Juno'' (film), the 2007 film Juno may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters *Juno, a character in the book ''Juno of ...

;

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

, vocal arrangements ; production,

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, mixing ; booklet photos * Jason Arce – saxophone ; saxophone arrangements * Adam Bainbridge – drums, sampling production ; end arrangement * BEA1991 – vocals *

Mikaelin 'Blue' Bluespruce Mikaelin 'Blue' Bluespruce is an American, New York City based mix engineer and record producer. He has worked with notable artists of many different genres including: Solange Knowles, Nas, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Skepta, Dev Hynes, Marsha Ambrosius, ...

– additional vocal engineering , mixing *

Dave Cooley Dave Cooley (David J. Cooley) is an American mastering engineer and audio restoration specialist. His numerous mastering credits include J Dilla's ''Donuts'' and '' The Diary'', Paramore's ''After Laughter'', 40th anniversary release of Bob Marl ...

– additional live engineering * Matthew Cooper – design *

Bryndon Cook Bryndon Cook, who also goes by the solo act Starchild & the New Romantic, is an American musician, producer, and singer-songwriter. He is best known for his work as the touring guitarist and music director for singer Solange Knowles, and his co ...

– vocals * Christopher Egan – drums * David Ginyard – bass *

– vocals * Nick Harwood – booklet photo *

– vocals ; vocal arrangements * Ian Isiah – vocals * Joseph of Mercury – vocal arrangements *

John Carroll Kirby John Carroll Kirby (born February 26, 1983) is an American pianist, record producer and composer based in Los Angeles, California, United States. As a musician, Kirby has collaborated with artists including Remi Wolf, Solange, Frank Ocean, Mil ...

– keyboards * Caleb Laven – additional engineering * Kelsey Lu – vocals ; organisation of tracks idea *

Aaron Maine Porches (formerly stylized as PORCHES.) is an American synth-pop project of New York–based musician Aaron Maine, formed in Pleasantville, New York, in 2010. History Maine has also released music under the names Aaron Maine, Ronald Paris, and ...

– third chord suggestion in hook ; acoustic guitar * Benjamin Morsberger – guitar * Zuri Marley – vocals *

– vocals * Ava Raiin – vocals *

Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson (born October 30, 1982, in Oregon) is a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter. Biography Miles was raised in Portland and Eugene. He spent much of his youth on the road traveling with his comedian/playwright father as h ...

– engineering * Lorely Rodriguez – vocals * Paul J Street – design *

Patrick Wimberly Jonathan Patrick Wimberly (born May 29, 1983) is an American record producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer and mixing engineer best known as being one-half of the synth-pop duo Chairlift. The band parted ways in 2017 so Wimberly a ...

– drums, percussion, bass ; production

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2016 albums Albums produced by Patrick Wimberly Domino Recording Company albums Avant-pop albums Funk albums by English artists Funk albums by American artists Contemporary R&B albums by English artists Contemporary R&B albums by American artists Dev Hynes albums