Dev Hynes seems to be a man who gets bored easily. At 18 he spent a blistering year in noise merchants Test Icicles releasing one album and burning out at the speed of one of their own songs. However a few years later they came to be lauded as the trail blazers of 'Nu Rave'...thank you very much. Then followed a spate of being the reluctant figure-head for London scenesters: this inspired his first album under the moniker Lightspeed Champion
Falling Off The Lavender Bridge. Recorded in Nebraska under the guidance of Bright Eyes producer Mike Mogus it was an alt-country journey through the pit-falls and paranoia that came with being part of London's vapid 2007 music scene. It was met with much critical acclaim but had tepid sales. In 2010 he followed this up with
Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You a more ambitious yet somewhat unfocused album. At this point Dev had started focusing on writing and producing for other artists. He worked with X-Factor contestant Diana Vickers, rapper Teophilus London, Florence and The Machine, and Beyonce's little sister Solange.
In this space of time he also moved to Brooklyn New York via Los Angles - becoming a style consultant for Jay-Z's clothing line Rocaware on the way, after treating the rapper to a drunken rendition of Janet Jackson hits. Invigorated by the move and finding a new perspective on songwriting from writing for mainly female singers he started writing a group of simple songs which would become Blood Orange's first album
Coastal Grooves.
Inspired by the transvestites in Jennie Livingston's seminal documentary
Paris Is Burning, many of the songs on this record are from a female point of view. The instrumentation is sparse with heavy use of throbbing somnambulant basslines and pizzicato guitar. There is plenty of swagger and often blistering moments of Prince style pop - listen to opening track
Forget It. The record is out on August 16th on Domino Records, in the meantime it is being previewed
here. It may not be an album for everyone and equally Dev Hynes may not be an artist for everyone, but whatever your opinion it can't be denied that it is refreshing to see an artist of such versatility and ambition working today. Whatever he does next, one thing is for sure, it will neither be boring nor what we expect.
