''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 and director based in New York City. From 2004 to 2006, Hynes was ...

recording as

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 polyp ...

. 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 advertise ...

'', 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. To date, she has released three studio albums via XL Recor ...

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. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in ...

Nelly Furtado Nelly Kim Furtado (; ; born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Furtado has sold over 40 million records worldwide making her one of the most successful Canadian artists. She first gained fame with her trip hop-inspired deb ...

Kelsey Lu Kelsey Elizabeth McJunkins (born May 12, 1989), known professionally as Kelsey Lu, is an American singer and cellist based in Los Angeles, California. Early life Kelsey Lu was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and had a strict Jehovah's Witness ...

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 Deana Lawson (1979) is an American artist, educator, and photographer based in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. Her work is primarily concerned with intimacy, family, spirituality, sexuality, and Black aesthetics. Lawson has been praised for her abi ...

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 and po ...

, 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 and journalist. He gained a wide readership during his time as national correspondent at ''The Atlantic'', where he wrote about cultural, social, and political issues, parti ...

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

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

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

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

, 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 is a music hall at 253 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a not ...

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 music, 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 ele ...

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 m ...

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) ...

R&B sounds. It also works

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

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 Lin ...

's "subtle bluster",

soca Soca or SOCA may refer to: Places * Soča, a river in Slovenia and Italy * Soča, Bovec, Slovenia * Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport, by ICAO code * Soca, a village in Banloc Commune, Timiș County, Romania * SoCa, Southern California Other u ...

and

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 ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

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 in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'', 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'') is a medium-sized antelope found in eastern and southern Africa. The only extant member of the genus '' Aepyceros'' and tribe Aepycerotini, it was first described to European audiences by Germa ...

(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 upright bassist, pianist, composer, bandleader, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and ...

and the poem "For Colored Women" by Ashlee Haze. * "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 work ...

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 and singer. Staples was once a close associate of Odd Future, Mike G and Earl Sweatshirt in particular. He is currently signed to Motown and Blacksmith Records. Staples rose to pr ...

. * "Thank You" contains samples from "

Stakes Is High ''Stakes Is High'' is the fourth studio album by American hip hop group De La Soul. It was released on July 2, 1996, through Tommy Boy Records. The album marked a change in the group's sound and direction as it was their first release not to b ...

" by

De La Soul De La Soul () is an American hip hop trio formed in 1988 in the Amityville area of Long Island, New York. They are best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative ...

Personnel

Devonte 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 and director based in New York City. From 2004 to 2006, Hynes was ...

– vocals , keyboards , piano , bass , drums ,

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

, drum machine , guitar , cello , drum programming ,

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

, percussion , vox , EWI ,

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

;

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 orches ...

, vocal arrangements ; production,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

, 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, A ...

– additional vocal engineering , mixing *

Dave Cooley Dave Cooley (David J. Cooley; born 1970) 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 ...

– 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 – keyboards * Caleb Laven – additional engineering *

– 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, Aaron Maine and the Re ...

– 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 Patrick and ...

– 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