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Cupid Deluxe

Blood Orange

Cupid Deluxe

Second album as Blood Orange from Dev Hynes, the multi-faceted singer-songwriter and producer behind Lightspeed Champion, Test Icicles and others, this time centred on 80s-inspired pop and funk

ADM rating[?]

7.5

Label
Domino
UK Release date
11/11/2013
US Release date
12/11/2013
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  1. 9.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    This is arguably Dev’s most daring and distinguished work
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  2. 9.0 |   No Ripcord

    Floating gracefully, and guided by a stylish demigod of his own imagining, he glides atop the current of the zeitgeist as globalized and immediately accessible as the modern urban hub he calls home
    Read Review

  3. 8.5 |   Pitchfork

    An album that tenderly details various heartaches through the language of longing
    Read Review

  4. 8.0 |   The Arts Desk

    As with Blood Orange's debut, the sound here is smooth, aspirational 80s music ... but done with too much love, as well as a virtuosic slinkiness and sense of mystery, to be pastiche
    Read Review

  5. 8.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    Probably Hynes’ great triumph on this record is the totally convincing manner in which he’s managed to work in eighties influences
    Read Review

  6. 8.0 |   The Fly

    It’s when Hynes embraces his sensitive side that he’s most effective
    Read Review

  7. 8.0 |   Evening Standard

    This is the exhilarating sound of an artist whose talent is finally bearing frui
    Read Review

  8. 8.0 |   The Guardian

    Hynes' most impressive album yet
    Read Review

  9. 8.0 |   Slant Magazine

    Blood Orange's sophomore effort chronicles alienation and broken romance with slow, melancholic, '90s-gazing jams
    Read Review

  10. 8.0 |   Spin

    The most R&B record in Hynes' varied career, albeit R&B from the displaced perspective of an intellectual who sees himself in the spaces between male and female, black and white, gay and straight, foreign and indigenous
    Read Review

  11. 8.0 |   The Independent

    Sometimes it suffers from Prince-like micromanagement, but when it succeeds, it's blissful
    Read Review

  12. 8.0 |   The Observer

    Hynes may have finally found the sound that suits him best
    Read Review

  13. 8.0 |   Sputnik Music (staff)

    His ability to conjure up an album as assured as this, seemingly out of nowhere, makes it seem criminal that the bulk of his work is typically done in collaboration with other like-minded, but not similar, artists
    Read Review

  14. 8.0 |   The Quietus

    This is the most settled and mature his work has ever sounded
    Read Review

  15. 8.0 |   Time Out

    Easily Hynes’s most honest album to date
    Read Review

  16. 8.0 |   DIY

    He's easily landed on his best album yet, out of any guise taken on in the last 10 years
    Read Review

  17. 8.0 |   The Irish Times

    Hynes sets up one slinky groove after another for maximum bliss
    Read Review

  18. 7.5 |   Pretty Much Amazing

    Blood Orange’s sound is shaping up to be one of the most intriguing and important in pop today, and this sophomore effort is a promising progression for an artist who deserves more of the spotlight
    Read Review

  19. 7.0 |   Rolling Stone

    Hynes is a triple threat, a total original and a force to be reckoned with
    Read Review

  20. 7.0 |   Uncut

    Sees Haynes marinate his songs in an early-'90s soul-funk mood. Print edition only

  21. 7.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    Arguably Hynes' finest work and an improvement on his debut release but he shouldn't be afraid to place himself centre stage instead of hiding behind a host of guest appearances
    Read Review

  22. 7.0 |   Under The Radar

    Eighties funk and R&B serve somewhere between influence and creative target
    Read Review

  23. 7.0 |   Consequence Of Sound

    Hynes’s production is top notch, providing crisp treatments for his diverse, moody, NYC-inspired pop songs
    Read Review

  24. 7.0 |   Fact

    The R&B hypnagogia of Coastal Grooves is in full effect on Cupid Deluxe, a record that also ropes jazz, hip-hop, and various flavors of dance music into the mix
    Read Review

  25. 7.0 |   The 405

    Probably Dev Hynes' most accomplished and intricate release to date
    Read Review

  26. 7.0 |   All Music

    He's an artist with ideas and while they sometimes pile up and crash on Cupid Deluxe, it's always a spectacular crash, and that's something worth investigating
    Read Review

  27. 6.0 |   Mojo

    Cosily familiar and playfully new. Print edition only

  28. 6.0 |   Q

    Some of the songs are terrific. Print edition only

  29. 6.0 |   PopMatters

    Hynes shows his trademark moves, and also demonstrates that he’s not a one-trick pony—he can expand his sound, and push further into new territory
    Read Review

  30. 6.0 |   NME

    A lot of pretentious flourishes mess with a lot of quite good songs
    Read Review

  31. Back to main chart

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Blood Orange: Cupid Deluxe

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  • 1. Chamakay £0.89
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  • 4. No Right Thing £0.89
  • 5. It Is What It Is £0.89
  • 6. Chosen £0.89
  • 7. Clipped On £0.89
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