Every time I’ve seen Devonté Hynes perform as Blood Orange—including sets at Pitchfork festivals in 2013 and 2016, an intimate show at the Empty Bottle in 2014, and a fantastic headlining concert at the Vic in 2016—I’ve walked away shaking my head that he isn’t a global superstar. In a better universe, his albums Cupid Deluxe (2013) and Freetown Sound (2016) would be considered world-beating touchstones by now. Since I first heard them, their depth has only become more apparent to me. After Blood Orange’s stirring early-evening set at Pitchfork on Saturday, the same old stupid thoughts about how popular Hynes should be—and questions about whether that much popularity would even interest him—ricocheted around my brain.
The track highlighted Hynes’ superb rhythm-guitar playing—slinky and crisp enough to make Chic’s Nile Rodgers sit up and take notice—but the standout performer on “Desirée” (as well as the band’s funkier material) was bassist DJ Ginyard, whose rubbery lines meshed with the exacting beats of drummer Jamire Williams to get the crowd moving. On Cupid Deluxe‘s lead cut, “Chamakay,” the vaulting harmonies and lead lines of backup singers Ian Isiah and Eva Tolkin took center stage. After Jason Arce’s bracing saxophone solo on “It Is What It Is,” the crowd thundered its approval—one of the few times I’ve heard a Pitchfork audience salute a wind instrument of any kind. Like Blood Orange’s albums, the all too-short 45-minute set was full of these moments, when Hynes would hang back and let the voices around him have their say.
