''Coastal Grooves'' is the debut studio album by

Blood Orange The blood orange is a variety of orange ( ''Citrus'' × ''sinensis'') (also referred to as raspberry orange) with crimson, almost blood-colored flesh. The distinctive dark flesh color is due to the presence of anthocyanins, a family of poly ...

. It was released August 30, 2011 under

Domino Recording Company Domino Recording Company or simply Domino is a British independent record label based in London. There is also a wing of the label based in Brooklyn, New York that handles releases in the United States, as well as a German division called Dom ...

. The album featured no

guest appearance In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...

s and was produced by

Ariel Rechtshaid Ariel Rechtshaid ( ;) is an American record producer, audio engineer, mixing engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. His accolades include three Grammy Awards for music production. Rechtshaid was the lead singer and guitarist of th ...

in Los Angeles. ''Domino Record Company'' describes the album as highlighting the glamour and drama of New York City in the 1980s.

Music

The album incorporates stylistic elements of

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

baroque pop Baroque pop (sometimes called baroque rock) is a fusion genre that combines rock music with particular elements of classical music. It emerged in the mid 1960s as artists pursued a majestic, orchestral sound and is identifiable for its appropri ...

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

contemporary R&B Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music Music genre, genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, funk, Hip hop music, hip hop, and electronic music. The genre features a distinctive Recor ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

, and

electronic music Electronic music is a Music genre, genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or electronics, circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromech ...

. By fusing many of these elements together, Blood Orange captures sounds of grooviness, reverbed guitar lines, and piano synths to create music that is described as being a part of a post-punk atmosphere. In a November 2013 article ''Complex'' magazine listed the album's cover as one of the "50 Best Pop Album Covers of the Past Five Years", also stating that Hynes was "inspired by transgender icons, like Octavia St. Laurent while he was wrapping production on the LP." In the music video for "I'm Sorry We Lied," produced by

and directed by Abteen Bagheri in 2012, the story follows Blood Orange and a woman's night life adventure in New York City. Aside from "I'm Sorry We Lied," Many works on the album are also said to be inspired by the after-hours environment of NYC. In 2010, Blood Orange underwent throat surgery and as a result, the album is sung mainly in falsetto.

Track listing

Personnel

* Devonté Hynes – vocals, music, lyrics, production, guitar, keyboards, bass, percussion, drums *

- production, percussion, mixing, engineering * Nedelle Torrisi - additional vocals (2,7) *

Justin Meldal-Johnsen Justin Meldal-Johnsen (born March 26, 1970) is an American musician, record producer, songwriter and musical director. He is best known for his work with artists such as Beck, Paramore, Nine Inch Nails, M83, Air, and St. Vincent. Meldal-Johns ...

- bass * Chris Rakestraw - additional engineering * Garrett Ray - drums *

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer with over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Hancock's 1983 album ''Future Shock''. Other ...

- mastering * David Schiffman - mixing * Brian Lantelme - photography

Reception

The album has a rating of 72/100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

based on 18 reviews, indicating generally favorable reviews. A reviewer for ''Pitchfork'' wrote that ''Coastal Grooves'' omits catchy choruses and melodies in favor of stark guitar lines and seductive mumbling but ultimately gave the album a rating of a 5.9/10.

References

External links

Official Tumblr Page

Official Soundcloud PageOfficial YouTube Channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cupid Deluxe 2011 albums Dev Hynes albums Domino Recording Company albums