Blood Orange11.19.25
Toronto, ON
Beyond his work as a producer, Blood Orange (aka Dev Hynes) has put together a formidable solo career. If you don't know him, you probably at least know him inadvertently from some of the production work he's done. The list is long, with some of my favourites being Carly Rae Jepsen's "All That" and Sky Ferreira's "Everything is Embarassing". He's got a new album out, Essex Honey, and on this one he's evidently making the most out of the connections he's made in his career, with features from names like Lorde and Caroline Polachek.
He played two nights in Toronto at History for this Essex Honey tour, and I went to the first night. A band called Le Keep opened, I had never heard of them, but they sounded pretty good. Sounded like The Strokes.
Hynes brought along an impressively full band, with backup singers that I now realize make many appearances on his records, Eva Tolkin and Ian Isiah. The highlight of the show probably was probably "Best to You". A cover of The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?" was also snuck in there.
