NEWS
Blood Orange has announced his new album ‘Essex Honey’ and shared the first two tracks – listen to ‘Mind Loaded’ and ‘Somewhere In Between’ below.
The album will be the first album from Blood Orange – aka Dev Hynes – since 2018’s ‘Negro Swan’ and it will feature appearances from Hynes’ previous collaborators Lorde, Caroline Polachek, Daniel Caesar, Mustafa, Turnstile’s Brendan Yates and Tariq Al-Sabir.
Also appearing are author Zadie Smith, The Durutti Column, Wet’s Kelly Zutrau, Tirzah and actors Naomi Scott and Amandla Stenberg. The record is released on August 29 via RCA Records and you can pre-order it here.
The first tastes of ‘Essex Honey’ come in the form of ‘Mind Loaded’, a minimalist but blissfully warm track that features vocals from Polachek, Lorde and Mustafa, and ‘Somewhere In Between’, a busier, slinky R&B track. Listen to both here:
A press release states that ‘Essex Honey’ is an album that has been “created from a dreamscape of his journey working through grief” and harkens back to his childhood growing up in the titular county.
Earlier this month, Hynes announced details of a UK and European tour for Blood Orange that will kick off later this year. It follows on from his upcoming US tour and kicks off in Berlin on October 29, with London shows planned for November 8, 9 and 10. See the full list of dates here and find UK tickets here and international tickets here.
Several of his US dates will see him opening for Lorde on her huge tour supporting new album ‘Virgin’, several songs of which were produced by Hynes. He also played cello and bass on the single ‘Man Of The Year’ and synths and guitar on ‘Favourite Daughter’.
He continues to be one of the most in-demand producers in alternative music, with the news coming this week that he has worked on ‘We Are Love’, the forthcoming new album from The Charlatans.
He also appeared on Turnstile’s ‘Seein’ Stars’ from the album ‘Never Enough’ this summer, contributing backing vocals, and also played cello on ‘Never Enough’ and ‘Look Out For Me’.
In a five-star review of ‘Negro Swan’ in 2018, NME wrote: “Spoken-word interludes from writer and transgender activist Janet Mock pepper the album, punctuating the stream-of-conscious, journey-into-the-unknown experience. At times, ‘Negro Swan’ crosses over from album and into a radio station from a world just outside ours; Dev Hynes has created a fabulous collection of cascading sounds.”
Zara Larsson has indicated that she may have cancelled her December 3 appearance at the Formula One Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The singer initially confirmed that she would not attend, before removing the comment and sharing a more detailed explanation of why the performance no longer feels right for her.
The Swedish star was scheduled to take the stage at Etihad Live on Yas Island during the Yasalam After-Race Concerts. Zara and Lewis Capaldi were due to launch the weekend’s entertainment. However, supporters encouraged her to reconsider the booking because of concerns surrounding the United Arab Emirates’ reported connections to Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary organisation accused of committing atrocities during the nation’s civil conflict.
A fan commented: “Please read about what UAE is doing to Sudan then cancel your Abu Dhabi show!” Zara responded: “I will not be going to Abu Dhabi.” Fans later realised that both comments had been removed.
She then shared that she had been considering what it means for her, as an artist, to perform in particular countries.
The Midnight Sun singer explained: “I think about that a lot in my life as an artist… I wanna perform and spread joy and music for people in every country, because no single person is their government.
“I’ve met so many wonderful people from every corner of the world and I know this to be true in my heart. I love people, and I love my fans soooo much.”
Zara acknowledged that her original comment “maybe came off as an impulsive response,” but explained that she had given the booking serious thought. She now believes withdrawing is the decision that “aligns with me the most right now, for many different personal reasons beyond politics.”
She continued: “Maybe I’ll delete both comments and do a better statement soon. I hope to sing with you in the beautiful future!”
