Blood Orange - Essex Honey

On Devonté Hynes' first proper Blood Orange album in seven years Hynes transmutes glum post-punk, winsome indie pop, and progressive soul with deviations far outside those styles, and many of the songs indeed change tack. Driving rhythms sprout from empty spaces, wilt, and regenerate. "The Last of England" begins and ends as a piano ballad and contains a simmering drum'n'bass section in the middle. "The Train (King's Cross)" is full of anxious locomotive energy ("Can't turn back and the worst is yet to come") and lets the listener out to the sounds of river waves, seagulls, and sawing cello. For every other reference to Hynes' surroundings, there's a nod to the North, more specifically Manchester. The Durutti Column are sampled, New Order are name-checked, and the recurring gentle wails of harmonica might bring the Smiths to mind. Elsewhere, the Replacements and Elliott Smith are quoted, and Yo La Tengo are interpolated. All of these figures hover at the periphery, just past Hynes' posse of sympathetic co-lead and background vocalists -- a number greater than indicated by the featured artist credits. Hynes' hooks, frequently accompanied by his keys and/or strings, are at their most exquisitely sorrowful here. A remarkable album with more gateways than a knowing mixtape, Essex Honey shows that Hynes is as ingenious as a would-be DJ, A&R, and talent connector as he is as a songwriter, producer, multi-instrumentalist, and singer. ~ Andy Kellman, allmusic.com