Blood Orange: Essex Honey

"Freetown Sound took a gamesome and personal tour of Black Atlantic history and music. And the anguished R&B of channeled the heartbreak of being Black and queer in America during the first Trump administration. While Hynes frequently works on music for films and other artists, he seems to save his most affecting work for Blood Orange. On Essex Honey, his first full-length under that name since the 2019 mixtape Angel's Pulse, Hynes journeys to Essex, England to reckon with grief and memory."

"The arrangements are lively despite the heavy subject matter. Backbeats thunder in and vanish like summer storms. Field recordings, woodwinds, harmonica, and strings float in and out unexpectedly. Guest vocalists are constant, and never pronounced. Hynes uses them like a choir, to shade in melodies and texture. You'd never know that's Lorde or Zadie Smith singing without reading the credits, a subtlety that builds on Hynes' frequent mentions of loneliness. Even with the support of a community, his grief feels individual and embodied."

Essex Honey centers on grief and memory tied to Essex, England, following the death of the musician's mother in 2023. The album revisits prior Blood Orange territorial themes—1980s R&B and new wave, Black Atlantic history, and anguished queer R&B—while forging more inventive responses to trauma. Gauzy piano, breakbeats, and electric guitar underpin songs that drift through past and present versions of home and self. Field recordings, woodwinds, harmonica, and strings appear unexpectedly, while backbeats thunder and vanish. Guest vocalists function as a subtle choir, adding texture without prominence. The record unfolds like a recurring dream, rendering grief as individual yet communal.

Read at Pitchfork