Album Review: Blood Orange - Angel's Pulse
It would be hard to find an R&B record from the past few years that isn't subtly (if not overtly) influenced by the work of Frank Ocean, specifically his 2016 album Blonde. That record not only cemented the elusive artist's status as a widely recognized master of his craft, but brought back the smooth, D'Angelo-style music that had mostly been pushed aside by the electronic and hip-hop influenced flavour of R&B that owes its popularity to industry titans like Drake and The Weeknd. The revolution in sound basically started and stopped with Ocean, however, and most of his contemporaries now spend their days imitating his sound while failing to inject enough creativity to stand out from the crowd.
One of the few who actually does put effort into their craft is Dev Hynes a.k.a. Blood Orange, who takes as much from Ocean as he does from J Dilla yet whose music always comes off as deeply personal and distinctive. After reaching an artistic peak on his 2018 album Negro Swan, Hynes has returned sooner than expected with a mixtape full to the brim with features from other artists, some of whom are enough to generate interest in the project all on their own. Unfortunately, the complex, layered sounds of his last album are virtually nonexistent on this abrupt release, and the collection of shorter, unpolished songs that make up Angel's Pulse are a puzzling departure from the emotive, soulful blends that made Hynes popular.
Far too many of the tracks present here come off as unfinished experiments that may have been enticing had they been stretched out to a more satisfying length. Even ignoring the half-finished I Wanna C U and the droning, pathetic Today which bookend the record, Hynes' attempt at cobbling together a project out of incomplete ideas leaves almost everything here feeling lackluster for one reason or another. The flute-tinged groove of Benzo is too bare-bones to capitalize on its admittedly inventive melody, as is the generic surf guitar tune of Tuesday Feeling (Choose To Stay). Tinashe's vocals on the track are easily more palatable than those of Hynes, but just as with the Justine Skye contribution on Good For You, the music underscoring their singing is simply not potent enough to create something interesting.
Even when Hynes attempts to diversify his artistic palette by dabbling in other styles and genres, the results are only slightly more capable. Gold Teeth finds both Project Pat and Gangsta Boo delivering admirable verses, with the former also contributing a catchy refrain to compliment the dusty hip-hop instrumental. The other rap-heavy cut, Seven Hours Part 1, is essentially one long verse from guest BennY RevivaL who spits some notably poetic lines ("Family scratchin' on the surface when I remind my choices/That I made, take to the grave, it's really poison) yet is largely drowned out by the questionable filter placed on his voice, not to mention the rattling percussion that incessantly accompanies his words.
The most ambitious cut on Angel's Pulse (and also by far the longest), Take It Back features famed producer Arca, who unfortunately only contributes to the song vocally and whose talent for exuberant crooning is only slightly more enjoyable than that of Hynes. Also present is BROCKHAMPTON member Joba, who delivers probably the best verse on the entire project: "The skies remain broken, you can't take back a bullet/That shit will see right through it, one shot to make it through it/See, I'm a bit manic depressive, glad I didn't do it"; that the other three minutes of ambient neo-soul pale in comparison is the track's main hindrance. Similarly, the brief Birmingham, a tribute to the four victims of a 1963 white supremacist bombing in Alabama, is divided up between a powerful verse from art pop up-and-comer Kelsey Lu and a repetitive, awkward refrain from Ian Isiah that sours the latter half of the track, even if its intentions are noble.
Ultimately, what makes Angel's Pulse such a letdown as a followup to Negro Swan is the utter lack of intricate, multifaceted arrangements that compliment the strained, emotional singing Blood Orange is known for. Obviously Dev Hynes did not intend for this mixtape to be received in the same way, and likely intended it as a simpler, more exuberant distraction to balance out the melancholic atmosphere that hovered over much of his last album. But his previous effort, for all that it owes to its influences, still featured enough of Hynes' unique flair and emotional writing so as to make it easy to become swallowed by its accomplished blend of funk and R&B. Stripped bare of these assets, Angel's Pulse offers only a series of meandering interludes that are deficient on their own merits and fail to present a compelling picture when viewed as a whole.
4.5/10
Favourite Tracks: Gold Teeth, Take It Back