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  • Issue 42

Dev
Hynes

The boundless potential of being a master of none.
Words by Kyla Marshell. Photography by Katie Mccurdy.

Groomer: Dana Boyer, Photo Assistant: Alec Lesser

Over the last several years, the musical artist known as Dev Hynes has blossomed into a Renaissance artist known for so much more. After releasing music in the band Test Icicles in his native UK, he moved to the US in 2007 and performed as Lightspeed Champion, before debuting as Blood Orange in 2011.1 Under this, his best-known moniker, he has produced records that mix electronica and R & B, laced with his own tender, melancholic falsetto. In addition to five Blood Orange albums, he’s become a scorer for film and TV (HBO’s series In Treatment and the 2019 movie Queen & Slim, among them), and collaborated with artists one rarely gets to hear strung together in one sentence: Philip Glass, Toro y Moi, Solange, Project Pat, Diddy.

Along with his own records have come a series of beautifully shot music videos—poetic, whimsical and off-center without being self-conscious. Which is how their director—yes, it’s Dev, again—comes across when speaking about his artistic output. Doing it all—from making the music to designing the albums’ typeface—isn’t born out of a maniacal need for control, but rather a question and a challenge: What can I do?

KM: You’ve worked under a number of different names—Blood Orange, Lightspeed Champion, and your own name for scoring work. Where do those alter egos come from, if that’s what they are, and what purpose do they serve? 

DH: I’ve always felt like there’s so many sides to every person—so many different moods and interests, even within a day. We fluctuate so much. In my experience in music, especially if you’re not a white male, you’re not really allowed to have different moods. So, intentionally-slash-subconsciously, I liked the idea of differentiating between everything just so that when I do something [new], afterwards people aren’t like, “Well, he’s doing something different!” 

KM: When you’re collaborating on a song with another artist, or you’re doing a score for film or TV, how do you take on the essence of that other presence while also bringing your own vision to it? 

DH: I’ve known a few people that have wanted to get into scoring, but one thing that they don’t understand is that beyond it being extremely collaborative, you’re also at-service. That’s something that can be tough for some people because you put a lot of work into it, and then someone who is not musical will just be like, “Do it again.” It’s kind of an interesting part of my brain because I’m putting emotion into it, usually because I’m relating to the story, but I’m also not fully precious with it. It can be very technical sometimes. Almost like solving a puzzle. I mean, I don’t do puzzles—but I imagine that when people do puzzles they feel a sense of completion! And it’s not necessarily they feel a creative sense of completion, but they feel something nonetheless. That’s kind of what scoring is like.

( 1 ) Test Icicles was a rough and ready punk trio. Despite only releasing one record, the band was popular on the UK gig circuit. As Hynes told music magazine NME when they split: “We were never, ever that keen on the music. I understand that people liked it, but we personally, er, didn’t.”

KM: What is it that allows you not to be precious about it?

DH: Thirty to 40% of songs that I’ve written or been a part of have then become other people’s. Stuff I’m working on that would probably end up being Blood Orange stuff, and they’ve just heard it and liked it and had an idea. I’m never working on something and in my mind I’m like, “This is going to be on my album.” I always want outside minds to interact with things, because then it takes it somewhere that’s outside of my head. If I trust and respect someone then I’m not really that precious. I just think there’s really great strength in knowing what you can do and what you can bring. And also knowing what you can’t do. 

KM: Some artists, even if they want to explore different disciplines or genres or instruments, don’t feel like they’re “allowed” to. How did you come to be so varied in your creativity? 

DH: I was talking with a friend recently about how there’s different types of creativity. There’s some people who maybe think of the title of being an artist first, and then work to get there. Then other people are just taking stuff in and learning, and what’s spun out of that becomes something creative. And I think I’m that type. Blood Orange is a form of expression. If it was to be simplified to one goal, the goal is just to see what I can do. I’m using music as a route and then exploring all of these things that I see and feel inspired by, to see if I can make anything that’s even slightly close to any of those worlds that I’m a really big fan of. 

“There’s really great strength in knowing what you can do and also what you can’t do.”

KM: What kind of music were you interested in as a kid?

DH: I was playing classical when I was growing up, but a really big thing beyond that is music videos and MTV. In England, we had some really random music video channels. It’s how I learned a lot. Being in Essex, there weren’t many avenues to explore in music. It was either going to the library to rent out CDs, stealing CDs from Virgin Megastores or watching MTV.2 In a day, they could play Alice in Chains, into Destiny’s Child, into Slipknot, into LL Cool J, into the Pet Shop Boys—that’s kind of how my brain works. All of those things were so inspiring for me, so I’ve just run with it. 

KM: What do you think about the concept of mastery? Is it something you value?

DH: Instrument-wise, I’m not a master at anything. But something I think I’m pretty good at is starting and finishing. I think it’s a real strength that I got to a point where I was able to really understand that, because it opened up a whole world of people. To me, there’s nothing better than a room full of people who all know exactly what they’re good at. And that’s kind of the Blood Orange energy, anyway. It’s really an idea that’s been started and finished by me. And then the middle can just be a free-for-all.

( 2 ) Many of Hynes’ music videos draw on naturalistic imagery of life in New York. However, for “Benzo” (2019), he appears in a highly stylized, Marie Antoinette-esque world. Speaking to Vogue, he explained that he aimed to push his boundaries. “I wanted to try to make one of those videos where this world exists only within this music video.”

KM: What kind of things did you do to soothe or comfort yourself during quarantine?

DH: Reading a lot. I mean, more than usual reading. Like a crazy amount. And going deeper into sports, which is really my first love in the world. 

KM: Do you play any sports? 

DH: I’m a psycho tennis fan. I play every day of my life. And I play football—as in, soccer. I was playing on two teams. I recently had to stop because of an injury, but at the end of the season I’m going to come back. Tennis and football have just been my entire life, really. That was the beginning of my life and so it’s come back with a vengeance. I think we sometimes believe we can’t really do things when we’re older, or pick things back up, because we think it’s a negative that we can’t master it. And that holds a lot of people back from doing the things that are very enjoyable, very fun and educational. There is this idea that if you can’t do something really, really well then maybe you shouldn’t do it. And I’m strongly against that.

This may sound kind of crazy, but I feel like all the Blood Orange shit is really that. Everything to do with it is for fun, and to just appease myself. I mean, for example, I didn’t study graphic design, but I’ve done all the artwork. If there’s a tour poster, I’ve done every single one, and merch, and all that kind of stuff. I don’t want to be a master of graphic design.3 It’s not something I want to explore and I have zero interest in doing it for other people. But it’s a fun thing for me to play around with, within the context of this world that I’ve been lucky to be able to create and work in.

KM: At this stage in your life, what has been the most surprising development or revelation?

DH: Lately, I feel like I care even less about outside noise. Even though I cared little before. And that’s in terms of—it sounds so cliché—social media, Instagram, and all that kind of stuff. I almost have a determination, in regard to real-world experiences.4

KM: You mean a determination to have real-world experiences?

DH: Yeah, but not in the sense of like, traveling to Egypt, but more like in the sense of talking to people. Because people are trying to convince us that everything lives inside this tiny phone, and I just feel like it’s really dark. It really grosses me out. And I just want nothing to do with it. I want to have my family, my friends and my loved ones, and I just want to exist in the world.

KM: Have you considered directing a feature-length film?

DH: I’ve thought about it. When people do a lot of different things, I think it’s still always good to respect the art form. I never just want to jump into it. I want it to feel as natural for me as when I do Blood Orange stuff. I don’t necessarily know how that can happen but I want to get to a point where it becomes a very natural form of expression.

KM: What’s next for Blood Orange, in terms of what you’re creating and what you hope to create?

DH: Unsure. In between every Blood Orange project I never really know if there’s another one, if I’m honest. I’m always aware there would be, but I have no idea when or how. I’m working on stuff because I’m always working on stuff. There’s definitely no live shows, for a fact. That’s something I can guarantee. No live shows about to happen in any form for a long time. But maybe music in two years.

( 3 ) Over two days in June 2020, Hynes raised over half a million dollars for the Movement For Black Lives and the LGBTQ Freedom Fund by selling a T-shirt designed with the brand Brain Dead. The text on the T-shirt read “If You Love Black Culture Protect Black Lives,” which he intended as a critique of non-Black artists who mined the culture without stepping into the Black Lives Matter protests.

( 4 ) Hynes first quit social media in 2015, writing on Facebook of the disconnect he felt between his online presence and lived experiences. “You may see me write on this page or playing music and see me as Blood Orange or Dev Hynes, but I turn the corner and I am just another black man,” he wrote.

( 3 ) Over two days in June 2020, Hynes raised over half a million dollars for the Movement For Black Lives and the LGBTQ Freedom Fund by selling a T-shirt designed with the brand Brain Dead. The text on the T-shirt read “If You Love Black Culture Protect Black Lives,” which he intended as a critique of non-Black artists who mined the culture without stepping into the Black Lives Matter protests.

( 4 ) Hynes first quit social media in 2015, writing on Facebook of the disconnect he felt between his online presence and lived experiences. “You may see me write on this page or playing music and see me as Blood Orange or Dev Hynes, but I turn the corner and I am just another black man,” he wrote.

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This story is from Kinfolk Issue Forty-Two

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