The hotly anticipated Blood Orange record Negro Swan drops on Domino on August 24, and today he’s released the first video “Charcoal Baby”, directed by London filmmaker and Dazed 100 alumni Crack Stevens.
It’s a typically Dev Hynes track (although co-written with Porches) – all beautiful, sweeping synths, playful brass, and reverb-laden pop vocal hooks. The compelling video depicts the rituals of black community – drinking together, dancing, sharing food – interspersed with fleeting moments of loneliness.
“My newest album is an exploration into my own and many types of black depression, an honest look at the corners of black existence, and the ongoing anxieties of queer/people of colour,” Hynes has said of the album. “A reach back into childhood and modern traumas, and the things we do to get through it all.”