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Blood Orange announces new LP 'Freetown Sound' inspired by the Dust Brothers

Blood Orange
Blood Orange @ Baby’s All Right, December 2015 (more by Christina Domingues)

In an interview with V magazine, Dev Hynes revealed that his next Blood Orange album is titled Freetown Sound and that musically it was inspired by ’90s-era sample-wiz producers the Dust Brothers. “Very cut and paste. It’s like my version of Paul’s Boutique. It kind of plays like a long mix tape.” As for lyrical themes:

This is a very layered and very deep record for me. There’s a lot of meaning behind all of the choices I’ve made for this one. It looks into my childhood and examines who I am at this point in my life. There are so many crazy layers to it that it’s actually quite hard to talk about it, but the record is very reflective of how my brain works. This is gonna sound terrifying, but there is a strong theme of Christianity on the record. When I was growing up, Christianity was drilled into my head so intensely, to the point where, as a child, I was meant to be left-handed but was forced to use my right instead. Left-handedness was seen as a sign of darkness. Freetown Sound also has a lot to do with Freetown—the capital of Sierra Leone—which is where my dad is from. The record addresses the way Christianity was brought to West Africa and the way black households held on very tightly to Christianity because it was this beacon of hope…and how eventually this somehow led to someone in a school telling me not to use my left hand. It’s been very interesting for me trying to understand and tie all of these things together. It’s been a way of working through it. There’s also a lot of stuff about race and specifically things that have happened to me.

While a release date hasn’t been announced, Dev did say that he plans to tour more for the new album than he did for 2013’s Cupid Deluxe, which was basically not at all. So far his schedule includes performances at a number of festivals, including NYC’s Panorama, Moogfest, the Roots picnic in Philly, Pitchfork, Bonnaroo, and FYF Fest. Stay tuned.

All Blood Orange dates are listed below

Blood Orange – 2016 Tour Dates
May 29 – 22 // Moogfest // Durham, NC // Tickets
Jun 4 // Roots Picnic // Philadelphia, PA // Tickets
Jun 9 – 12 // Bonnaroo // Manchester, TN // Tickets
Jul 2 // Hyde Park // London, England // Tickets
Jul 15 – 17// Pitchfork Festival // Chicago
Jul 23 // Panorama // NYC
Aug 27 // Greek Theatre // Berkeley, CA
Aug 28 // FYF Fest // Los Angeles

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