British-born musician Devonté Hynes has quietly been an industry staple for more than 10 years, but it’s his work as New York-based Blood Orange that has felt his most vital. His last album under the moniker was 2016’s exquisite Freetown Sound, which found him considering representation and the experiences of his immigrant parents. Negro Swan is his fourth full-length work, and looks yet more inward, addressing his past struggles as a young black man in the UK, while giving voice to the universal insecurities of the marginalised.
Beautifully languid vocals and smatterings of spoken word and rap overlay breathtaking instrumentation; propulsive drums, gentle guitars, lounge-y synths, flutes, sax and a shiver-inducing bass (notably on Dagenham Dream) make for rich grooves. Hynes fuses R&B, funk, soul and jazz with warm, glossy electronics to create something distinctly nourishing, while writer Janet Mock and on Hope – gloriously – Puff Daddy both speak openly about self-love, vulnerability and family.
Set over gorgeous production, and serving as a comforting reminder to black sheep and ugly ducklings everywhere that it pays to be true to one’s full self, Negro Swan is a dizzying triumph.
