Blood Orange is the new project by Devonté Hynes, a svengali Brit about New York known in the UK as Lightspeed Champion and as a songwriter to the stars (specifically Solange and Cassie) in the US of A. This month he’ll release Coastal Grooves, an album of relaxed, winding bass lines, gentle guitar riffs and girlish melodies inspired in part by old school ballroom diva Octavia St Laurent and the recent news coverage of gay teen suicides.
“I’m straight but I got bullied as if I was gay growing up. A lot of my friends were gay so I was spat on on the bus daily and I ended up in hospital a couple of times from being beaten up so badly,” he told The Guardian. “I kept thinking about a lot of those kids who were gay and black in ’80s New York, and how they had this culture where they could be free and escape.”
Finally, the anti-gay bullying campaign is associated with good music for a change! (Ke$ha excepted, of course.) Good cause. Bad music. Real talk.
Anywhoo, check the vid for album highlight “Sutphin Boulevard” above and if you like what you hear, catch Blood Orange’s FREE album release show in New York tonight at Home Sweet Home. Details via Facebook. Coastal Grooves is out August 30 on Domino Records.
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