Blood Orange, Negro Swan, Album Review
Blood Orange
Negro Swan
Album Review
Negro Swan, the fourth album created by Dev Hynes (under the alias of Blood Orange)got my attention a little when it was part of the "new releases" section of Spotify. This was around the end of August, which to me was too busy of a time to fully just take a moment to give it a thorough listen.
But following what to me has been quite a quiet period in terms of new albums, I decided that it would be a good time to revisit some albums that I haven't given enough time upon their release and have since gained a lot of positive feedback. The first album that came to my mind was of course this one. And after going through it, I was honestly surprised that I let an album as brilliant as this one get past an earlier listen from myself.
Theres a hell of a lot of material to keep anyone entertained for a long time, with a trackless of 16 songs that combine to make a runtime of nearly 50 minutes. For me, it takes all of my favourite tropes from many popular indie hip-hop albums including ambient synth and jazz-inspired instrumentals and combines it with a very soft and atmospheric vocals that come across as a mix between Prince and Tame Impala.
It's a very indulgent album to listen to musically and works very well as a concept album, with an incredible flow throughout the entirety of the album and many points in which separate tracks become more similar to each other (either through instrumental similarities or repeated lyrics).
The album gets off to a very moody start straight away with "Orlando" which has this very slow-paced, bouncing rhythm, with an instrumentation that really gives the track a kind of melancholy groove to it. It has this dusky atmosphere to it that really allows it to be a marvellous track to listen just after the sun has gone down. It then ends with the first of several sound clips what what I figure must be some kind of interview. All of these sound clips address the issues of identity and fear of not being yourself in a nutshell and they add an extra layer of meaning to the album.
Track number 2; "Saint" has arguably one of the most pop-inspired productions on the album. The synth notes, mixed with the backing vocals and electronic rhythm add a very infectious effect to the track, and paired with the very Prince-esque vocals, it makes for a very memorable tune with just enough soulfulness for it to really work with its title of "Saint".
This then transitions into a much more minimal and mellow sounding melody, marking the start of the next track "Take Your Time". The track stays consistently mellow but adds some gorgeous flute melodies half-way through to give the song a bit more uniqueness and memorability.
"Hope" begins with a marvellously angelic vocal harmony, which then transitions into a beautiful yet simplistic piano melody and a typical mid-paced rap beat. The input that Diddy and Tei Shi add a very nostalgic quality to the whole thing. I really enjoyed listening to this song and will carry on doing so for a very long time, from the start to when the angelic harmony return at the end. One of my favourites on the album.
"Jewellery" begins, sounding like something straight off of Tyler's "Flower Boy" with its completely wondrous synth work. This also has another brilliantly angelic harmony that follows after this and then the beat kicks in. Towards the end, the melody changes to something a bit more hip-hop inspired and now includes some relaxing guitar strums (also very similar to that heard in a lot of "Flower Boy"). Yet another fantastic song!
The next track is an interlude that comes in the form of "Family", which features another one of the sound clips. I was kind of left wishing that this wasn't an interlude and instead linked to the next track (like the other sound clip sections), purely because the saxophone melody that accompanies it is awesome and really harnesses that groovy and jazzy atmosphere to its fullest. Despite being separate tracks, "Family" still doesn't fail to transition perfectly into the next track; "Charcoal Baby", which somehow manages to make an out-of-tune guitar riff work really well. That factor really does give this song a very interesting charm. While this covers the verses, the chorus instead uses a vast level of synth and backing vocals that give the chorus a much more cosmic dynamic to the more rustic verses. It's a song that has a lot to offer musically and an absolute hit! In my mind this is the track that I feel represents the full album best.
The awesome vibe of "Charcoal Baby" is then silenced with a gunshot noise, followed by an extremely mellow and cold melody. We have now moved on to the track "Vulture Baby". It shares some similarities lyrically to the equally mellow "Take Your Time", which led me to believe that there might be some feeling of negativity that come out of biding your time for too long out of fear that are supposedly carried through in these two tracks. When you also considered how "Vulture Baby" had carried through from the track before it, theres also a sense of a good vibe that was immediately shut down in a sense.
The next track, "Chewing Gum" shares a lot more in common to a hip-hop number. This is helped by the various sound clips used both at the beginning and end of the track, as well as the other artist that feature on the track such as A$AP Rocky and Project Pat. There are parts of A$AP's verse that feel a little Drake-like at points, but the more melodic parts work really well with the production. The song as a whole has this weirdly blissful and whimsical tone that make it quite a unique number to say the least.
"Holy Will" is fittingly very soulful and has a much more minimal melody in the earlier half, allowing the vocals to really shine. There are a lot of brilliant high notes reached in what I'm going to call the verses and an almost cute harmony from the backing vocals in the chorus. The song then progresses quite steadily, eventually adding in an electronic melody that feels very cold and surreal yet very ambient. I feel that with each time I listen to this particular track, I tend to like it more and more.
"Dagenham Dream" seems to me to be a bit like a more mellow version of "Saint" in which the pitch is roughly the same and instrumentally, they're fairly similar. However, the vocals have much more reverb and the rhythm is much slower. As well as this, what I imagine is an ambulance siren can be heard about halfway through, painting a very grim picture in ones head.
"Nappy Wonder" definitely has this very pop-like and catchy atmosphere. The kind of instrumentation that the song has (especially towards the end) feels quite similar to something off of Childish Gambino's "Awaken, My Love". Its just a very funky track with a very colourful atmosphere to it.
"Runnin'" is another incredibly unique song amongst the rest as it begins with an acoustic guitar riff which makes the track feel a lot warmer and bright in tone. I also love the vocal input from Georgia Anne Muldrow. They really give this track a whole lot of spirit when paired with the melody. The track then ends with another sound clip in which the instrumental behind it sounds very similar to the one at the end of "Orlando". I really Love this track as well!
From one unique track to another, "Out Of Your League" has this oddly upbeat rhythm that could arguably even make it a good dance track, yet it still sustains the ambience that I'm so accustomed to at this point. You could say that it even shares a lot of aesthetic commonalities with a lot of the recent stuff from Gorillaz. Nevertheless, this track stands as a fabulous listen in its own right.
"Minetta Creek", while being quite a short number, is still a very chilled and relaxing tune to listen to, and quite a good choice for a penultimate song.
Theres something that feels very triumphant about the last track; "Smoke". It has more of an intimate and live sounding energy this time around where the sound of an audience can be heard. As well as this, its just an acoustic guitar and his vocals. But I feel that there is a sort of sense where the song kind of wraps up the whole concept that was made apparent by the sound clips scattered across the tracks. It feels like the song focuses on the point of view from somebody who is finally being themselves. I may be completely wrong, but it is still fun to speculate.
Carrying this topic further with my overall conclusion on the album, I have felt some sort of connection with this album thanks to how it has seemingly reflected a lot of feelings that I have been feeling within myself quite a lot this year. And with this, the album has already developed a lot of sentimental value, and that's one hell of an advantage to have!
This album really is a work of art that touches upon some extremely relevant issues, and I am extremely happy to have finally added it to my memory.
Thank you for reading.
BBP
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