Neha Patil (Editor)

Freetown Sound

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Recorded
  
2014–16

Artist
  
Blood Orange

Label
  
Domino Recording Company

Length
  
58:40

Release date
  
28 June 2016

Producer
  
Dev Hynes

Freetown Sound iimgurcom9NqFuLipng

Released
  
28 June 2016 (2016-06-28)

Genres
  
Synth-pop, Alternative R&B, Baroque pop

Similar
  
Dev Hynes albums, Alternative R&B albums, Other albums

Blood orange i know official video


Freetown Sound is the third album by Dev Hynes recording as Blood Orange. It was released on 28 June 2016, three days before its originally announced release date of 1 July 2016.

Contents

Blood orange augustine official video


Production

Freetown Sound takes its name from Freetown, Sierra Leone, where Hynes' father was born. The album features Carly Rae Jepsen, Zuri Marley, Debbie Harry, Nelly Furtado, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, slam poet Ashlee Haze, and others. When he first announced the album's release on Instagram, 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."

Critical reception

The album was released to high critical acclaim and positive reviews. Writing for Exclaim!, 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 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.

Track listing

All tracks written by Devonté Hynes.

Promotion

The track "Hadron Collider", featuring Nelly Furtado, was released only as a cassette tape on December 12, 2015, and sold exclusively at his shows at the Apollo Theater in New York City. A music video for "Augustine" was released on June 28, 2016, accompanying the release of the album.

Personnel

  • Dev Hynes – production, engineering, mixing; main instrumentation: vocals, keyboards, synths, piano, guitar, bass, synth guitar, clarinet, cello, drums, percussion, composition, arrangement
  • Ian Isiah – vocals on "By Ourselves", "Augustine"
  • Ava Raiin – vocals on "By Ourselves", "Augustine", "Juicy 1-4", "Thank You"
  • Ashlee Haze – poetry on "By Ourselves"
  • Carly Rae Jepsen – vocals on "Better than Me"
  • Bryndon Cook (of Starchild & the New Romantic) – vocals on "But You", "Hands Up", "Better Than Me"
  • Empress Of – vocals on "Best to You"
  • Debbie Harry – vocals on "E.V.P."
  • Nelly Furtado – vocals on "Hadron Collider"
  • BEA1991 – vocals on "With Him", "E.V.P.", "Squash Squash"
  • Kelsey Lu – vocals on "Chance"
  • Zuri Marley – vocals on "Love Ya"
  • Jason Acre – saxophone
  • David Ginyard – bass on "E.V.P." & "Juicy 1-4"
  • Aaron Maine – third chord suggestion on hook of "Augustine", acoustic guitar on "Better Numb"
  • Benjamin Morsberger – guitar on "E.V.P"
  • Patrick Wimberly – drums, percussion, bass on "Desirée"
  • Adam Bainbridge (Kindness) – drums, sampling on "Thank You"
  • Mikaelin 'Blue' Bluespruce – engineering, mixing
    • Sample credits
  • "By Ourselves" contains samples from "Myself When I Am Real" written by Charles Mingus and the poem "For Colored Women" by Ashlee Haze.
  • "Desirée" contains samples from the 1990 documentary film Paris Is Burning.
  • "E.V.P" contains samples from "Chief Inspector" written by Wally Badarou from his "Echoes" album.
  • "Love Ya" contains samples from an interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates.
  • "Hands Up" contains samples from an interview with Vince Staples.
  • "Thank You" contains samples from "Stakes is High" by De La Soul.

    • Songs

    1By Ourselves2:12
    2Augustine3:51
    3Chance2:49

    References

    Freetown Sound Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA