You Can Now Stream Blood Orange’s Lush New Album ‘Cupid Deluxe’ In Full

Retro-restless musical polymath Dev Hynes has made his second album released under his Blood Orange moniker, Cupid Deluxe, available to stream in full. Featuring appearances from the Dirty Projectors‘ Dave Longstreth Samantha Urbani of polyamorous Friends fame, Clams Casino, Despot and Kindness, ‘Cupid Deluxe’ leads with the luscious single ‘Chamakay’, co-anchored by Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek and was inspired by “New York City, The big apple. I lived in Brooklyn for some time and finally made the leap into Manhattan. So a lot of the record is about that, transitions, life transitions. Moving from a stable position to an unstable position. Something we have all been through.”

Hynes also added the following (aptly nostalgic) statement accompanying the album stream on Tumblr:

I had a lot of fun making this album, so I hope you have a lot of fun listening.

Album streams are a very intriguing thing to me. it’s like the admittance that people have short attention spans, or some kind of label panic to get people talking for a day, another case in point for the argument of lack of longevity and prosper in the music industry. Obviously i’m not completely against it as i wouldn’t have done this, or spent all of last night putting the visuals together for the youtube stream, just an observation really..

But I do hope, that if you like the record, you can see past a sense of instant gratification, and live with it, as I have lived with it for so long now, within the making process, as well as the completion.

I do remember being younger, and being a complete fan to the point of insanity and not using my lunch money for food, just so I could go and buy SIX by Mansun on the weekend (I use this example, as I cover a Mansun song, from their third album.. on this record, sung by the ever lovely Samantha Urbani).

I was so happy when I finally had that cassette in my hands, i combed the sleeve, i held it close, i kept it in my school bag at all times, i learnt every lyric, studied every sound.

Some years later, during a Lightspeed Champion promo run, I did an interview where they asked me about influences, i mentioned Mansun’s SIX. The interviewer scoffed at me. “No way.. really? that album is a stinker.” Apart from the obvious appalled reaction I had to his reaction (not because he disagrees with me, but because, well, who really thinks their taste is superior to others, it’s all just opinion at the end of the day, and to ask me a question about my taste, and then scoff at it… anyway…) but it led me to do research of my own, and realize that.. well, critically, that album wasn’t really liked that much. News to me!!

Can a situation like that happen now? Everything is catered towards mass approval. I should reiterate that this is not me moaning about modern times or the demise of the music industry, it’s really just me noting the changes. Yeezus seemed like a record people waited for, and cherished upon arrival. So that sentiment isn’t truly lost.. But I guess maybe the magic of waiting and treating yourself is angled a little differently now. Pros and cons really. As I’m extremely happy that people can hear my record right now, as it means a lot to me, and although i’ve been releasing music (aside from in my bedroom to my mother) for nearly 10 years now, it’s still a complete shock that people actually want to hear it.

So, thank you, and enjoy !

The full tracklist is below:

1. Chamakay
2. You’re Not Good Enough
3. Uncle Ace
4. No Right Thing
5. It Is What It Is
6. Chosen
7. Clipped On
8. Always Let You Down
9. On The Line 
10. High Street
11. Time Will Tell

via NME, Blood Orange on Tumblr