Dev Hynes is releasing a new Blood Orange album called Negro Swan on August 24, and today he released the project's new single—a smooth cut called "Charcoal Baby" that was co-written with Porches’ Aaron Maine. The song comes with a beautiful, thought-provoking music video directed by Crack Stevens, which you can watch above.
"My newest album is an exploration into my own and many types of black depression, an honest look at the corners of black existence, and the ongoing anxieties of queer/people of color," says about Negro Swan in a statement. "A reach back into childhood and modern traumas, and the things we do to get through it all. The underlying thread through each piece on the album is the idea of HOPE, and the lights we can try to turn on within ourselves with a hopefully positive outcome of helping others out of their darkness."
In October 2017, he hinted at the album's direction and explained, "A lot of the new songs on the new album deal with growing up and childhood in England. Looking at the country that made me."
Last week, Hynes unveiled the album's cover artwork, which you can see below.
He also shared a short trailer for the follow-up to 2016's Freetown Sound. Check that out below.
