Album Review: Blood Orange - Cupid Deluxe

Devonte Hynes is known under many guises. There was his first band, Test Icicles, his singer-songwriter moniker Lightspeed Champion, and now as Blood Orange, purveyor of dance funk. Not to mention, as a producer he's worked with Solange, Sky Ferreira and Sugababes recently, stamping all of their work with a unique chill dance vibe that has become his calling card.

Cupid Deluxe takes the down-tempo element of dance music and marries it to unashamedly '80s slap bass, falsetto and beautifully fleshed-out female vocals courtesy of newcomer Samantha Urbani. Disco rears its head more than once, cleverly mixed into percussion and elaborate vocal harmonies on songs like On The Line.

Lyrically, Hynes is entering bolder territory. He's seemingly reconciled his transformation from UK indie kid to NY R&B genius, reminiscing on council estate life over a heavy bass on High Street. On past records he's seemed unsure, downtrodden – honest to the point of exhaustion. There's an assuredness in It Is What It Is, as Urbani and Hynes sing, “Time will tell if you can figure this and work it out/No one's waiting for you anyway”. Whether it's meant to be taken as antagonistic or self-aware is up for interpretation. Hynes is no longer broken-hearted; sometimes he's brutally honest. On the Talking Heads-reminiscent You're Not Good Enough, he sings, “I never was in love/You know you were never good enough”.

Cupid Deluxe is contemplative music with a summertime beat made for dancing with a sway in your step.