Editors' picks: Summer releases
The new Epigram editorial team share the new albums they've enjoyed over summer, and why they struck a chord.
Review / Blood Orange: Negro Swan
By Bethany Marris, Online Music Editor
Released on August 24, ‘Negro Swan’ is the fourth studio album from Blood Orange, the moniker assumed by British singer, songwriter, and producer Devonte Hynes. Hynes’ previous record, ‘Freetown Sound’, was an erratic, intimate chronicle of racial and sexual marginalisation. Thematically, Negro Swan doesn’t particularly divert from its predecessor, yet delves deeper into acknowledging the importance of self-truth and self-worth. Powerful interludes from presenter and trans activist Janet Mock, sensitive bars lent from Puff Daddy and soothing vocals from Tei Shi contribute to the eclectic, hand-picked list of featuring voices.
On ‘Charcoal Baby’, Hynes cries the truth that ‘no one wants to be the odd one out at times’, pursuing this narrative in the outro of ‘Dagenham Dream’, recognizing the sore truth that ‘part of survival is… being able to fit in’. However dispiriting this may be, throughout the album Hynes ultimately celebrates conventional ‘difference’, and provides an empathetic space for the listener. Instrumentally, Negro Swan is multifaceted. With woeful beat shifts, heavy grooves and bopping rhythms, it is an LP appropriately resistant to categorisation. Free from commercial formula, Hynes has produced a compelling, sensitively curated body of work.
Review / Let's Eat Grandma: I'm All Ears
By Joe Gorecki, Deputy Music Editor
Who could have imagined that the expansive soundscapes of prog rock would be revived in 2018 by two teenagers from Norwich? Let’s Eat Grandma’s I’m All Ears is far more than a rehashed ‘70s throwback though.
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Building on the success of their 2016 debut I, Gemini, the duo have given their quirky brand of synth pop an epic quality, creating a solid momentum starting from the opening instrumental track through the album before a solid crescendo in ‘Calm and Collected’.
Before the final track however, the understated ballad ‘Ava’ reduces the pair to just the basics, allowing their songwriting unadorned to really stand out. The eclecticism, combined with their maturation as songwriters, has managed to produce what will surely be one of 2018’s most interesting pop albums.
Featured images: Domino Records, Blood Orange and Transgressive Records, Let's Eat Grandma