Dev Hynes's path of artistic development is one of the most pleasing in 21st century music. The flamboyant black indie-kid risking life and limb to ride the local buses growing up in Hackney, who channeled his frustration at the lack of a place for him in the world through the awkward, aggro, occasionally inspiring but awfully named early 2000s electro-punk trio Test Icicles, has since then through sheer force of will carved out a space within the music world where he can be himself.
Hynes clearly adores the whole aestheticHis sophisticated indie singer-songwriter guise Lightspeed Champion had its moments, and even managed to attract the attention of Van Dyke Parks, with whom he collaborated. But it's since becoming Blood Orange – solo artist and writer-producer for Solange Knowles – that Hynes really seems able to stretch and flex his musical talents. And, as he proves on this second album as Blood Orange, he has now created a musical world, completely consistent in its internal logic, where everything, however much it may reference music of the past, is recognisably his.
As with Blood Orange's debut, the sound here is smooth, aspirational 80s music – Sade, Terrence Trent D'Arby, Anita Baker, a little lovers' rock, hints of Fleetwood Mac's Tango in the Night, even Billy Idol's less histrionic moments – but done with too much love, as well as a virtuosic slinkiness and sense of mystery, to be pastiche. Hynes clearly adores the whole aesthetic, from the structure of a sax solo to the reverb on a drum sound, and to listen to this is to bathe in its sonic luxuriance, not to hanker after another time. An interesting comparison is with Jessie Ware who mines similar source material, but also manages to create something entirely individual. In an age when there is so much anxiety about retro-ism and authenticity it's a massive pleasure to find someone so clear about what they like and what they do.
Overleaf: stream Cupid Deluxe in full
