Jan 19

Jan 19 1.

Blood Orange - Freetown Sound

[Domino]

So here we are! Number 1: Blood Orange’s Freetown Sound, Dev Hynes’ third album under the moniker, and by far his most expansive and luscious yet. It still blows my mind that this man first burst on to the music scene with Test Icicles, quickly followed by his twee-folk alter ego Lightspeed Champion. To go from those enjoyable but goofy projects, to Freetown Sound, is really quite a feat.

Let’s start with the basic reason why Freetown Sound is album of the year: It has 17 tracks and every single one of them is a marvel. Even the intro track “By Ourselves,” and the sketch-like interludes like“With Him” are essential to this album. The interstitials sampling different black people talking about their life experiences help to flesh out the ideas presented in the songs. Freetown Sound is a journal of black culture in 2016; and yes I’m white, but from the opening track wherein he melds John Coltrane’s “Myself When I Am Real” with a sample of poet Ashlee Haze’s impassioned recital of her verse “For Colored Girls (The Missy Elliott Poem),” I’m locked in. It is about breaking down the stereotypes of black culture, but also exalting them – having pride in them. As an outsider, I am still fascinated to learn about this perspective, and moreover appreciate all the great things that have come out of black history and influence a huge portion of all culture today. On an even deeper, human level, this album is about acceptance, personal pride and love for your fellow man: these are all things that everyone should appreciate.

Now for the music itself: Hynes has created a chameleonic blend of soul, R&B, jazz and pop that sounds fresh and smooth in all of the myriad forms that it takes through the album. He switches gears effortlessly between punchy, pop-soul bangers like “Augustine” and “Best To You” and soulful, reflective pearls like “Chance” and “Hadron Collider.” Perhaps best is when he manages to find the luminously captivating middle ground on weightless electro-soul jams like “Desiree” and “Hands Up.”

Part of what makes Freetown Sound so much fun is the variety of voices that are on this album. Hynes’ own voice has never sounded as honeyed and rich as it does here, but it shines largely thanks to the female voices that he’s surrounded himself with. He’s managed to get Blondie’s Debbie Harry to make a ghostly turn on “E.V.P.” The heartbreaking interplay between himself and Empress Of’s Lorely Rodriguez makes “Best To You” into the best miserable dance classic since Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own.” The skyscraping intertwining vocals between himself and Nelly Furtado on “Hadron Collider” is mesmerising and attention-demanding no matter how many times you listen to it. The list of collaborators also includes Carly Rae Jepsen, Ava Rainn, BEA1991, Kelsey Lu, Zuri Marley, who all bring their own fresh sounds and perspectives to their tracks, making Freetown Sound into a truly collaborative album.

Freetown Sound is an elegant patchwork of ideas, sounds, styles and cultures. There’s no possible way to pigeonhole it as a single genre, but it all fits together to make a magnificent whole. Listening to Freetown Sound is not only purely enjoyable, but it’s uplifting, educational, hopeful and ringing with pride. That is why it’s the album of 2016.

---

Below you can see my top 50 albums of the year list in full.