A- Blood Orange
Negro Swan
Domino
Given Devonte Hynes' impressive trajectory from respected indie-rock artisan to trusted collaborator of pop stars like Solange and Kylie Minogue -- it shouldn't come as a surprise to find that Hynes wangled a cameo from Puff Daddy for his fourth album under the name Blood Orange.
What upends expectations is Puff Daddy's contribution: a tender description of his innermost anxieties.
"Sometimes I ask myself, you know, what is it gonna take for me not to be afraid to be loved the way I really want to be loved," the veteran rapper says over a florid piano lick in the song "Hope." "I'm scared to really, really feel that."
That's why artists flock to Hynes as a producer and songwriter -- to tap into the radical sensitivity he displays with more skill than ever on Negro Swan.
Full of breathy vocals, lush synths and chewy R&B grooves, the album ponders the costs of life as a member of a marginalized community; it's about what it feels like to be bullied ("First kiss was the floor," Hynes sings evocatively on "Orlando") and to contend with the unreasonable pressure of being made to represent an entire race or gender or sexual identity.
Hynes narrates his stories with vivid musical and emotional detail: the image in "Saint" of someone whose "skin's a flag that shines for us all," the liquid guitar playing in "Charcoal Baby," the exuberant gospel runs by Ian Isiah that connect "Holy Will" back to the vintage Clark Sisters devotional on which it's based. (Also appearing are ASAP Rocky, Steve Lacy of the Internet and actress Amandla Stenberg.)
Yet for all his ability to put you deep inside the experience of vulnerability, Hynes' stance isn't weak. There's pride and defiance in his account of survival.
Writer, director and trans activist Janet Mock (of FX's acclaimed Pose) delivers a running monologue about how other individuals find affirmation in a culture that too often reduces them to caricature.
As she puts it in "Family," one way is to seek spaces where "you show up as you are without judgment, without ridicule, without fear or violence or policing or containment."
Hot tracks: "Orlando," "Holy Will," "Hope"
-- MIKAEL WOOD
Los Angeles Times (TNS)
B+ Olafur Arnalds
re:member
Mercury KX
Icelandic composer Olafur Arnalds goes far beyond the use of innovative software involving self-playing pianos on re:member, a wistful album also incorporating various string ensembles, fast and slow beats and the human voice as it alternates between buoyancy and calm.
Probably best heard on the track "they sink," Stratus, the software Arnalds developed with Halldor Eldjarn, allows him to set values like rhythm and tempo to form a three-element creative loop with a pair of self-playing pianos: they respond to his keyboard playing while Arnalds is in turn affected by their notes and chords.
The multi-part title track is a good sampler of the rest of the album. A swirling string section latches onto a gentle piano figure, what sounds like the Stratus is soon enveloped by watery sounds, the strings make an expanding return and restless drums boost the intensity. The fade is short and definitive.
Some of the opener's elements are retained on "unfold," but English singer Sohn's layers of wordless vocals over the last minute imbue the pulsing tune with mystery and passion. One of the album's calmest inlets is "saman," a brief composition of soothing piano sounds, while "ekki hugsa" is Arnalds at his most intensely hypnotic.
Hot tracks: "re:member," "unfold," "saman"
-- PABLO GORONDI
The Associated Press
SINGLES
Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn featuring Pilobolus, "Come All You Coal Miners/Take Me to Harlan"
"Come All You Coal Miners," a vintage agitprop lament about coal mining as wage slavery, opens this track in unexpected form, a long way from traditionalism, with Abigail Washburn's near a cappella vocal over eerie electronic tones that may involve banjos in reverse. "Take Me to Harlan" arrives in a more acoustic guise, accompanied by Fleck's stark banjo syncopations and Washburn's clog dancing. In the video, Pilobolus' dancers swing mining picks.
-- JON PARELES
The New York Times
Janet Jackson featuring Daddy Yankee, "Made for Now"
The obvious forebear for this Janet Jackson comeback single is her 2001 hit "All for You," which was similarly breezy, and asked just as little of her voice. But even at her most intense, she has always had a sweet, lithe vocal presence that's more about shapes than peaks and valleys. "Made for Now," while simple, is charming and -- especially for a needless collaboration with vintage reggaeton star Daddy Yankee -- reassuringly guileless. Jackson floats her own way, regardless of which direction the rest of the world is floating in.
-- JON CARAMANICA
The New York Times
Cat Power featuring Lana Del Rey, "Woman"
In October, Cat Power will release Wanderer, her first album in six years, and the first single is "Woman," an arid march and defiant stand. Cat Power (musician Chan Marshall) has been finding ways to disappear for at least two decades, and her tug-of-war between reluctance and insistence is as alive as ever. There's also a pointed dance between Power and Lana Del Rey, a performer who owes quite a bit to the reticence that has long been central to Cat Power's power, and who also knows a lot about hiding in plain sight.
-- JON CARAMANICA
The New York Times
Style on 09/04/2018