Although the album was promised to be released on July 1, Dev Hynes of Blood Orange leaked his highly anticipated album Freetown Sound late last night. But we weren’t just given the album: along with our 17 soon-to-be summer anthems, Hynes released a new music video for the track “Augustine.”
Reflecting on the recording of this new album, Hynes said in a press release (via Fader ):
I have just finished making an album about my life, my upbringing, being black in England, being black in America…my movement to this country at the age of 21, the same age that my mother moved from Guyana to London, and my father from Sierra Leone to London,” Hynes wrote in a press release along with the announcement. “Freetown Sound, the name of my album, is taken from Freetown where my father was born.
The album is packed with notable musical names. Freetown Sound includes samples from Vince Staples, Ashlee Haze, and De La Soul as well as features from Nelly Furtado, Ava Raiin, Starchild, Zuri Marley, and everyone’s favorite part-time pop star: Carly Rae Jepsen. As for the video, well, it seems Hynes has curated his distinctive aesthetic even more deeply, as the clip is highly choreographed and features many of Hynes’ friends and collaborators, including Starchild and, funnily enough, Julian Casablancas.
Watch the video below, and listen to Freetown Sound in its entirety on whichever of the many streaming platforms you prefer.