Freetown Sound
| Freetown Sound | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by Blood Orange | ||||
| Released | 28 June 2016 | |||
| Recorded | 2014–16 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 58:40 | |||
| Label | Domino | |||
| Producer | Devonté Hynes | |||
| Blood Orange chronology | ||||
| ||||
Freetown Sound is the third album by Dev Hynes recording as Blood Orange.[1] It was released on 28 June 2016, three days before its originally announced release date of 1 July 2016.[2]
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.[2][3] 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."[3]
Critical reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 82/100[4] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [5] |
| The A.V. Club | A[6] |
| The Guardian | [7] |
| The Independent | [8] |
| NME | 4/5[9] |
| Pitchfork | 8.8/10[10] |
| Q | [11] |
| Rolling Stone | [12] |
| Spin | 8/10[1] |
| Vice | A−[13] |
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."[14]
Accolades
| Publication | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consequence of Sound | Top 50 Albums of 2016 | 2016 | 14[15] |
| The Guardian | The Best Albums of 2016 | 2016 | 23[16] |
| Paste | The 50 Best Albums of 2016 | 2016 | 18[17] |
| The Skinny | Top 50 Albums of 2016 | 2016 | 16[18] |
Track listing
All tracks written by Devonté Hynes.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "By Ourselves" | 2:12 |
| 2. | "Augustine" | 3:51 |
| 3. | "Chance" | 2:49 |
| 4. | "Best to You" | 3:46 |
| 5. | "With Him" | 1:25 |
| 6. | "E.V.P." | 5:44 |
| 7. | "Love Ya" | 2:48 |
| 8. | "But You" | 3:01 |
| 9. | "Desirée" | 3:01 |
| 10. | "Hands Up" | 4:09 |
| 11. | "Hadron Collider" | 3:44 |
| 12. | "Squash Squash" | 3:37 |
| 13. | "Juicy 1-4" | 4:36 |
| 14. | "Better Than Me" | 3:17 |
| 15. | "Thank You" | 3:04 |
| 16. | "I Know" | 4:35 |
| 17. | "Better Numb" | 3:01 |
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 Isaiah – 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.
- "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.
Charts
| Chart (2016) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[19] | 78 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[20] | 125 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[21] | 81 |
| New Zealand Heatseekers Albums (RMNZ)[22] | 10 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[23] | 23 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[24] | 88 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[25] | 154 |
| US Billboard 200[26] | 159 |
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[27] | 10 |
References
- 1 2 Joyce, Colin (27 June 2016). "Review: Blood Orange Is Fired Up and Ready to Go on 'Freetown Sound'". Spin. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
- 1 2 Chris Payne, "Blood Orange Releases New Album 'Freetown Sound' Three Days Early: Listen", Billboard, 28 June 2016.
- 1 2 Hua Hsu, "Blood Orange and the Sound of Identity," The New Yorker, 4 July 2016.
- ↑ "Reviews for Freetown Sound by Blood Orange". Metacritic. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
- ↑ Martin, Liam. "Freetown Sound – Blood Orange". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
- ↑ Sahim, Sarah (1 July 2016). "Blood Orange struggles to find a sense of belonging on Freetown Sound". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
- ↑ Petridis, Alexis (23 June 2016). "Blood Orange: Freetown Sound review – a pop changeling's pell-mell scrapbook". The Guardian. Retrieved 28 June 2016.
- ↑ Gill, Andy (29 June 2016). "Album reviews: Blood Orange - Freetown Sound; Metronomy - Summer 08 + more". The Independent. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
- ↑ Nicolson, Barry (29 June 2016). "Blood Orange – 'Freetown Sound' Review". NME. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
- ↑ Moore, Marcus J. (1 July 2016). "Blood Orange: Freetown Sound". Pitchfork. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
- ↑ Oldham, James (September 2016). "Blood Orange: Freetown Sound". Q (363): 102.
- ↑ Hermes, Will (28 June 2016). "Freetown Sound". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
- ↑ Christgau, Robert (16 September 2016). "Frank Ocean's Candidness and the Ambitious Blood Orange: Expert Witness with Robert Christgau". Vice. Retrieved 19 September 2016.
- ↑ Carlick, Stephen (28 June 2016). "Blood Orange – Freetown Sound". Exclaim!. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
- ↑ "Top 50 Albums of 2016". Consequence of Sound. November 28, 2016. Retrieved November 28, 2016.
- ↑ "The Best Albums of 2016: 40-31". The Guardian. November 30, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
- ↑ "The 50 Best Albums of 2016". Paste. November 30, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
- ↑ "Top 50 Albums of 2016". The Skinny. December 1, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
- ↑ "Ultratop.be – Blood Orange – Freetown Sound" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ↑ "Ultratop.be – Blood Orange – Freetown Sound" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
- ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Blood Orange – Freetown Sound" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ↑ "NZ Heatseekers Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 4 July 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
- ↑ "VG-lista - Topp 40 Album uke 29, 2016". VG-lista. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
- ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Blood Orange – Freetown Sound". Hung Medien. Retrieved 31 August 2016.
- ↑ Chart Log UK: "CLUK Update 9.07.2016 (wk27)". UK Albums Chart. Zobbel.de. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
- ↑ "Blood Orange – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Blood Orange. Retrieved 14 July 2016.
- ↑ "Blood Orange – Chart history" Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums for Blood Orange. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
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