A few weeks ago, Lorde broke the Internet by posting a picture of herself with Devonté Hynes, aka Blood Orange. With a storied career as both a solo artist and producer, Dev Hynes is still a well kept industry secret, maintaining a low public profile while working with artists like Mariah Carey, Solange, Carly Rae Jepsen, and now, Lorde.
In 2004, Dev Hynes formed the band Test Icicles with friends Sam Mehran and Rory Attwell. It was a short-lived post-punk group, disbanded in 2006, but the influence of the driving guitars and electronic elements in songs like “Catch It!” can be heard in Hynes’ later work as a producer. Simultaneously, Hynes was working on the solo project Lightspeed Champion, a persona for which he mostly dabbled in folk sounds with modern themes—it sounds a lot like Destroyer. It’s acoustic, but not soft. These sounds, especially present in “He’s The Great Imposter”, can be traced through to “Champagne Coast”, which carries those ghost guitars and folk percussion elements.
These disparate styles foreshadowed what Dev Hynes would become: a versatile and sought-after producer with an ineffable personal sound. Working with Ariel Rechtshaid, he released his first album as Blood Orange in 2011, called Coastal Grooves. The album brought forth an even more eclectic sound, marrying the folk and punk while interspersing soul and funk, a unique sound Dev Hynes become known for. Hynes’ greatest power might be combining these genres expertly, to the point where you can’t find the seams between them.
On iconic production credits like Sky Ferreira’s “Everything Is Embarrassing” and Solange’s “Losing You”, the Dev Hynes sound takes shape as a blend of dance and indie. He seems to take a lot of influence from early aughts indie rock (Wolf Parade, Broken Social Scene, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah) in writing, but in production turns to more 80s funk (Sade, Talking Heads, Grace Jones, Roger). The drum beats sound like Graceland (1986).
One of my personal favorite Dev Hynes credits is “All That” by Carly Rae Jepsen. This song definitely leans more into the Sade side of his inspirations, but definitely references some of the more modern indie, especially in some of the synth flourishes. In this live performance, Hynes plays the guitar, which is arguably the central element of the song’s sexy, understated ethos.
Dev Hynes working with Lorde is particularly exciting because of songs like “All That” and FKA Twigs’ “Hours”—there’s an experimental, electronic side of Lorde that listeners haven’t really heard yet. On Solar Power (2021), Lorde did the acoustic, highly literal lyrical style, quintessential Jack Antonoff album—a rite of passage for any indie pop it-girl. I personally found this to be the most flaccid of all the Lorde-Antonoff collaborations, and the one that sounded the most like Bleachers. They peaked with Melodrama (2017) (actually, Jack Antonoff probably peaked overall with Melodrama) and sensed that their collaborative spark was dying. When she showed up in New York with Dev Hynes, I think all her die-hard fans that were holding on through the Solar Power era started allowing themselves to imagine a brighter future.
845 what did you expect is my take on what Lorde LP4 might have in store, with tracks from female experimental indie-funk artists like Kelsey Lu, Okay Kaya, and Little Dragon. I’d be excited to get synth-Lorde back, with some electronic guitars and drum machines for good measure. Chanel Beads makes an appearance, a definite Dev Hynes disciple, with a vocoder track—it would be interesting to see Lorde obscure her distinctive vocal style a bit more. Solar Power saw her dabble in interludes and spoken-word pieces, but I think a Dev Hynes production space could allow her to expand even further into atmospheric sounds and male harmony or backing vocals.
I feel like the image they posted provides a strong visual reference for what Lorde 4 might feel like: blazers, fall weather, muted neutrals, sunglasses indoors, definitely New York—this next record is going to be Lorde’s New York album for sure. I’m patiently waiting for the first single.
Oddly enough, while I usually find Antonoff anathema, Solar Power is my favorite Lorde album overall. But now that Clairo has freed herself from his often bland grip, I’m glad Lorde is doing the same. I also like this “mood board” approach to a playlist!