Hi, everyone. Lawnthony Mowtano here, the internet's most grass clippings music nerd. It's time for a review of the new Blood Orange album, Essex Honey.

Blood Orange is the musical project of singer, multi-instrumentalist, producer, songwriter, Mr. Devante Hynes. This is the first release he has dropped under the Blood Orange name since the 2019 Angel's Pulse mixtape.

Dev, up until now, has had quite the career, whether he was fronting the short-lived dance punk outfit Test Icicles or defunct indie project Lightspeed Champion. Blood Orange, though, really is the project that he made a true name for himself under, though, and developed his widely respected reputation as an indie veteran. There was a point where his output fit really snugly into this early 2010s wave of chill, reverb-heavy underground pop and rock.

But it wouldn't take long for his DIY productions to start taking on a more versatile and sophisticated sound, all of which came through pretty boldly on 2013's Cupid Deluxe, a record that also featured super-cinematic instrumental arrangements such as on "Uncle ACE", and also a pretty neato lineup of guest collaborators who helped Hynes extend his musical ambitions even further, whether it's Caroline Polachek or UK rapper Skepta.

From here, Devante continued to cast a pretty wide creative net with two more albums that featured really lush winding tracklists that were both as immersive and unapologetically authentic as a great Prince album. His last full-length LP so far has easily been my favorite, and even some of his older works that previously I had been skeptical of have been growing on me as of late.

I should also note that Devante's many collaborations extend far outside of his own discography, too. He is truly an artist's artist, with his talents being pretty widely recognized by a surprising roster of musicians. He had production credits all over Solange's breakout True EP back in 2012. He's done work Danny Brown's U Know What I'm Saying?, as well as Mariah Carey's 2018 Caution album. He's worked with Carly Rae Jepsen, A$AP Rocky, The Avalanches, Turnstile. He's done soundtrack work, Broadway stuff. I mean, his credits are really massive at this point, and to almost dwarf his core catalog.

These sorts of crossovers and collaborations behind the scenes stuff is the thing he stayed consistent with, even as musical output has grown more and more rare on the Blood Orange front. And rumor has that he wrestled a little bit with bringing Blood Orange back for this new album, too. And Essex Honey, I wouldn't necessarily say it's a momentous return. It's more pleasant than anything when observing what's going on musically on the surface. But then beyond that, there is a serious sense of ennui.

And sure, while it is true, there is a lot of stuff out there in the current day musical landscape that gets by merely on just presenting as very pleasant and easy to listen to – an itch that Blood Orange also scratches on this record – but once you dig beyond that, it offers so much more. Take the opening track, for example, which showcases Devante still bringing beautiful and otherworldly layers of vocals, synths, and beats to the table with a lot of lyrical laments about a loss of time and youth and love. While the vibe on this track may be fleeting, I guess so are the many things that are being sung about on this track, too.

The bulk of the record from here is loaded with more spacey flowery abstractions than funky pop confrontations when looking at comparing the production and songwriting from this to Dev's last full-length LP. "Thinking Clean", for example, is one of many tracks on this record that really takes its sweet time building up from some very bare bones beats and keys and vocals. Things eventually progress toward a pretty groovy finish with some stunning melodies laced into the mix. However, once that drop really establishes itself, the song doesn't last much longer from there.

There are several moments on LP that do leave me wanting just a bit more as a result of that, even with Dev doing his best occasionally to work in an abrupt piano or cello transition to bring us to the next moment on the LP. There's still a refinement and a beauty to these tracks I can't really deny, though. I think the most shining example of all of them is "The Field", which has some amazing vocal lines in it from long-time collaborator, Caroline Polachek. This track just instantly transports me to a beach, and I'm feeling like the salty ocean ocean wind hitting me during an overcast day.

Again, great moment on the album, but the highest highs on this LP, in my opinion, are the moments where Dev can really translate the anxiety and the anguish that is just fueling this album into pure alt pop bliss with tracks like "Somewhere in Between" as well as "Vivid". Also, I'm loving the escapism of the track "Countryside".

But by that same token, as we go deeper into the album, we get more cuts that allude to many of the same lyrical themes without actually digging into them any further. Not to mention, we start hearing progressions and song structures that are even more anemic and lacking in growth and change and substance. Really the whole run of "Life" to "Scared of It".

The ending of this LP, I feel like I could more or less take or leave. It ends about as inconspicuously as it starts.

While I wouldn't really say there was anything on this album that I would skip or came across as offensive or sloppy or overly mediocre, there was only so much of it that grabbed my attention and kept me locked in, immersed, and even entranced, like some of the best moments from Dev's last two proper full-length albums, which is why I'm feeling about a decent to strong 6 on this record.

Anthony Fantano, Blood Orange, forever.