Over the past two months, Devonté Hynes has been rolling out songs from his new Blood Orange album, Essex Honey. June brought “The Field,” while July saw the release of “Mind Loaded” and “Somewhere In Between.” Now, with the release of Essex Honey just a couple of days away, Hynes releases “Countryside,” an ethereal track loaded with the wistfulness that distance brings. The track also features Eva Tolkin, Liam Benzvi, and Ian Isiah. “Did you look outside the window? / Did it make you think of me?” he sings on the chorus. “As the mist begins to settle / And the city starts to breathe.”
The press release for the album, which will be the first Blood Orange project since 2018’s Negro Swan, explains, “Essex Honey is a soundtrack created from a dreamscape of his journey working through grief. It is also an album about growing up in Essex (outside London) and the way music has inspired, healed, and interwoven itself through Hynes’ life.” The album will also feature appearances from Daniel Caesar — with whom Hynes also collaborated on new songs alongside Rex Orange County and on Caesar’s own upcoming album — Caroline Polachek, Lorde, Mustafa, and more.
You can listen to “Countryside” above.
Essex Honey is out 8/29 via RCA Records. Find more information here.
