A Reason to Write Again

Dev Hynes is my favorite genius

Devonte Hynes aka Blood Orange is BACK baby. The ever-elusive genius just released a new song at the end of June called “The Field.” Something I really admire about Dev is that he has an incredible ability to synthesize music from all different eras and genres. This song features The Durutti Column, a music collective started in the 70s that features lo-fi guitars. I honestly don’t know much more about them except this NTS episode on their music is really so special. You can tell artists like Cindy Lee pull heavily from their influence. If you like the guitars on this song, you should listen to this episode!

My girl Caroline Polachek is featured here too. I love how her voice operates as another instrumental layer. It would be easy for her iconic vocals to overpower any song but here it’s perfectly woven in. The song also features Tariq Al-Sabir (who I learned is a composer) and Daniel Caesar. Star studded cast amirite?

Something I’ve always loved about Blood Orange is that he never makes himself the center of his own music. He is someone who truly believes in collaboration and you can feel that his ego isn’t present in the final result. I really aspire to be more like him. More in service of art and community and beauty. More able to locate and fan the flames of my own contributions to this whole life thing we’re doing together. When you hear a song like “The Field,” it really reminds you that we all need each other. It can be so beautiful. Dev’s music has always helped me feel like I’m part of something bigger.

I was in a bit of a music listening slump for a while there but I feel like this track brought me back to life and offered some nice through lines of other songs that have been kicking around in the background.

If you listen to this new track from Laura Groves immediately after “The Field,” it’s kind of divine.

I was sad to miss James K at Ground Hum this year but she’s got a new album coming out which hopefully means a tour! I’ll be there.

I will die and go to heaven when I can hear Sofia Kourtesis live. That will hopefully happen in October in support of her forthcoming album.

Never heard of Sophia Stel before but Gorilla vs. Bear posted this song a few weeks ago and it’s sticking around!

p.s. Can we all agree now that Spotify is dead? Thank you!!!