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Certain musicians are blessed with the ability to hear, see, feel, or taste music, a variant of the neurological condition known as synesthesia.

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MUSIC

Blood Orange's "Angel's Pulse" Mixtape Is a Colorful Coda to "Negro Swan"

Pulse is minimalist but carries a message, beckoning listeners to figure themselves out while he's also trying to self-reflect.

Blood Orange

Last year Blood Orange (né Dev Hynes) released the acclaimed Negro Swan, a stream of consciousness that served as a treatise on identity politics.

He explored what it meant to be black and depressed in a heteronormative society that seemingly rejects those who are different. On his new release, the Angel's Pulse mixtape, he continues his existential journey with 30+ new minutes that complement his catalogue like a colorful, free-flowing coda.


Like on Swan, Hynes fuses elements of R&B, hip-hop, and alt-pop to create tracks that are chillwave-adjacent. On board lending their talents are Toro y Moi, Kelsey Lu, Ian Isiah, Project Pat, Gangsta Boo, Tinashe, Porches, Arca, Joba of Brockhampton, Justine Skye, and BennY RevivaL, but the production and mixing are all Hynes's unique voice and flow.

"I put as much work and care into it as I do with the albums I've released, but for some reason trained myself into not releasing things the rate at which I make them. I'm older now though, and life is unpredictable and terrifying," said Hynes in a statement.

Pulse is minimalist but carries a message, beckoning listeners to figure themselves out while he's also trying to self-reflect. "What is it you notice all that way down? Our vacant sounds can help you figure it out," he sings on "Baby Florence (Figure)."

His ideas may individually seem like abstracts, but Pulse is an introspective downtempo collection that casts a much wider net, navigating pain, a broken heart, confusion, and the fear of lost connection. On "Tuesday Feeling (Choose to Stay)," he laments choosing "to ignore blues," while feeling scattered and misunderstood. "I want the lifestyle for free, I want the p**sy for free, an arm around me to grieve, a sleep without sweat and me, my self doubts in a tweet, my mood rests on coffee, try to understand me."

As with past releases, he's anxious about merely existing, yet confronts those feelings of unrest head on. On "Happiness," he asks, "How do you know when life will choose to fade away? How do you know if you've been wrong?" Fifteen years and five releases later, Hynes is still searching for meaning and answers in these tumultuous times.

Blood Orange records have always been about stepping out and owning one's differences. Musically, his mellow, moody beats and macro concepts make him a standout, yet thematically Hynes appears uncertain and wavering...and it's a relief to hear someone cop to that. On the mixtape's closer, "Today," he sings, "Loose touch and confidence never seems the same, eyesight stays clearer when selfishness became number one and chewing gum you were afraid, big mistake in stepping out...Nothing good today."

Hynes has always boldly represented himself with his originality, lush melodies, and poignant creative direction, never failing to unravel new layers of himself, both sonically and spiritually. On Pulse, Hynes proves to be the genre-spanning auteur we always knew he was. By continuing to focus on his insecurities and anxieties, he shows us that everyone—everything—is a work in progress and that recognizing imperfection is our greatest strength.

Angel's Pulse



MUSIC

Blood Orange Releases Gorgeous, Atmospheric New Video for "Hope"

The video features Diddy, ASAP Rocky, Tyler the Creator, Tei Shi, and more

Dev Hynes (better known as Blood Orange) has been making some of the most richly complex, genre-defying music and multimedia art of the past decade. Yesterday, Hynes continued this tradition with a new video for "Hope," posting a snippet on his Instagram account.

"Hope" was one of many standouts on Hynes' 2018 album, Negro Swan. Its video, out today on Apple Music, is just as elegant and innovative as the song it brings to life. It features a wide variety of notable collaborators, including Diddy and Tei Shi, and was produced and shot on 35mm by Elara Pictures.

Hynes directed and edited the video himself. You can see his signature ability to spin disparate imagery and genres into a cohesive whole manifested even in the short Instagram clip, which features slow-motion visuals of people running through autumn leaves, dancers spinning against a scarlet background, and the artists creating the track in a studio, Hynes shaping it into being from the mixing board.

The full video begins with Dominique screaming at a man on a busy street, asking him to hear her. Then, the first few chords come in, drowning her speech as the footage slips into slow motion. From there the video pans to Tei Shi, singing the song's riff on a crowded sidewalk, her pale blue jumpsuit adding spots of color to the faded concrete backdrop. These are shots of tentative optimism, of people just beginning to find their voices, discovering companionship and beauty in unexpected places.

Tei Shi - "Bassically" (Official Music Video)www.youtube.com

Most of the video takes place on the streets or in the studio, but every shot remains true to Blood Orange's vision, juxtaposing the quotidian with dreamy clips of bodies moving in surreal ways. We see dancers frozen in motion around a grand piano; moody, blue-washed shots of A$AP Rocky running across a city street and flipping off the camera under neon lights; Empress Of swaying against a screen of flames.

Ultimately the video seems to be about the gap between fame and intimacy, dreams and reality, fear and hope—a sentiment that's reaffirmed in its final monologue, penned and narrated by Puff Daddy.

"Sometimes I ask myself, what is it gonna take for me not to be afraid to be loved the way I really want to be loved?" Diddy asks over elegant piano trills. "I know how I really want to be loved, but I'm scared to really really feel that. It's like you want something but you don't know if you can handle it. You give me that hope that maybe one day I get over my fears and I receive."

Blood Orange will be on tour with Florence + the Machine and Christine and the Queens this spring.


Eden Arielle Gordon is a writer and musician from New York City. Follow her on Twitter @edenarielmusic.


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