Song Exploder - Blood Orange - Saint

Episode Date: September 25, 2018

Blood Orange is the project of songwriter and producer Devonté Hynes. He’s produced and co-written songs for artists like Carly Rae Jepsen, Solange, HAIM, and ASAP Rocky, among others. He���s been releasing his own music as Blood Orange since 2011. In August 2018, he released his fourth Blood Orange album, Negro Swan. In this episode, Dev breaks down how he made the song “Saint.” You’ll hear the original version of the track from 2015, as well as the layers and voices that were added over years to create the final version that appears on the album. songexploder.net/blood-orange

You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. I'm Rishi Kesh Hirway. Blood Orange is the project of songwriter and producer Devante Hines. He's produced and co-written songs for artists like Carly Ray Jepson, Solange, Heim, Asap Rocky, and others. He's been releasing his own music as Blood Orange since 2011. In August 2018, he put out his fourth Blood Orange album, Negro Swan.

And in this episode, Dev breaks down how he made the song, You'll hear the original version of the track from 2015, as well as the layers and voices that were added over years to create the final version that appears on the album. My name is Devante Hines. I tend not to remember the first time I start tracks, but this song, I remember the very beginning of it. I distinctly remember it because I'd only just moved into the place I was living in. And obviously, before taking care of anything that a human needs... needs to survive, I set up my music equipment in the middle. I was really into these kind of like messy beats that just have almost like sunny melodies

over the top. Like, let's go swimming, Arthur Russell. You almost don't even realize how pectic the drum track is because the melodies is so sweet. I wanted something along those lines. So I was in my apartment And a lot of the times I use sounds and things I find from YouTube And then I cut them up and we'll replay them

And so I found like a loop on YouTube I'm pretty sure that was a YouTube loop Because I remember the cable system To run it through the mixer It was like a little taxin at first And it was at a time where I was running a lot of things Through this mixer that I had It's like a Radio Shack made mixer

From back in the day and it's probably for like live DJs and there's a lot of like effects on it So I found that loop and then had a drum machine It was just me playing along with it and then I added the eight or eight stem to Ran everything through that mixer and then into my computer and then I added the vocals and I did the chords to that Saving all my love for you that was first line I wrote, then after that, the second that I wrote was, I wish I'd seen the saint you were before. And then everything else stemmed from that.

So the song is kind of like a hopeful song about seeing the best in people and the best in yourself. And it's really it. It's really like a very simple concept. And that was all that existed for half a year. It was just that beat for maybe like seven minutes and that melody over the top of it. I usually have people hanging at my students

because just working solo, I do miss the kinsmanship of a band. So I have friends around me. So I always listen to what they say, even if they're not musical, I like their input. And more people kept bringing this song up to me that I'd heard it through the years. It would always be the one that would stick out to people whenever I'd play in the stuff. So I just decided I need to, like, knuckle down in it. And then it was just constant deconstructing and cutting and speeding up and slowing down. And then adding the street sounds in.

I have a lot of stock-powered street sounds of New York that I've recorded off my phone. That one is the longest one I've done. I love the sound of the iPhone audio so much. I walked from Soho essentially up Broadway to... just after Union Square and just recorded the whole time. I wanted it to feel alive in some way, making it feel that it was almost like it's coming from the streets. You know, like the beat could only have been made,

ripped from, like, the concrete, you know. So as my friend, Jason Arce, it was recorded actually in my studio, but I wanted it to sound like when you're walking around in New York and you hit people playing saxophone. So that's why it's so frantic. It's funny that I was recording these street sounds and getting Jason to do that.

Saxophone over the top, because a lot of the times my music, the street sound is completely natural because I shut windows and it doesn't stop it coming into the microphone. And oftentimes also it's just saxophone people playing. So it's funny that I constructed it for this song because other songs, it's an unavoidable situation. So that's two things.

That's me. attempting to play clarinet mixed in with me just making the sound in my mouth. And then I got Jason to play on the top of it. And then I added the cello stuff so that it had that kind of messy texture. I used to have this like, you know, there's like kind of fake stand-up pianos that have pressure keys and then like worldly sounds and stuff. There was a worldly sound on that stand-up piano that I got so obsessed with. It was quite a digital sound, but there was a quality of

quality in it that was so nice I always really liked. So I was recording for a tape machine direct from the stand-up piano. And it just naturally made it warmer so that I didn't really have to touch it that much. There's maybe like three different synth pads that I've like made within logic. That was added actually to the end pretty late just to give a boost to that final section for like thickness. So yeah, it's a very simple The saint you were before So yeah, it's a very simple concept in this song

It's really just trying to pull the best from people Everyone has those moments where maybe they're not as Maybe they were in a better light before And this is about accepting that Acknowledging it, but accepting it. Is there anyone that you were thinking? of specifically when that feeling was coming out? I mean, probably myself, honestly.

I'd always kind of had this ongoing feeling of being able to do better, but then at the same time, maybe I'd done better before. A lot of people that maybe don't ever listen to my lyrics properly kind of think that they're love songs, but I've never in a love song in my life, like ever. But I love the form and the language, but in reality it's more talking about it. about myself.

You wish I'd seen the saint you were before. All the vocals, if it's not me singing it, happen naturally and somewhat by accident. Usually it's people that are around. Like there's Bayo-191. I got to see you live for more you said before. Is at the beginning of the song. And then there was a harmony she added towards the end.

She came up with that harmony herself and it's like nothing I would write. I would not have written a harmony for the main melody that is that ever. Then the second vocal added was Ava, Ava Rain in that same section actually. So Ava Rain, she sang a few times on my last album and she would sing live with me every now and then. And then, quiet when it's done, will you ever run? And then Aaron, who records his porches, sings the opening line. Your skin's a flag that shines for us all. You said it before.

With Bayer. The brown that shines and lights your darkest thoughts. I essentially replaced myself with him for that beginning, because I didn't even you needed me. There's a feeling when you hear different vocals from the artist in the song. And adding the voices kind of takes it out of, not reality, but it takes it out of being like me just singing this part. If there was to be like an ethos for Blood Orange, it's for it to not sound like it's me in a room making music. I'm glad it doesn't feel like a solo project because my whole goal is for it to never feel like it's just me by myself.

Spreading all my love for you. You never tell me all that you do. And it's done. I also see albums as time captures of my life. And that's why I like this song so much, because this song has existed for so long, that it has such an insane mix of people singing on it, which were all in completely different rooms at different times.

As much as I'm really meticulous of things, I'm pretty good at being like, this is done. I can change that snare a million times, and it doesn't matter at this point because it's captured those couple of years. But probably the hardest moment was the verse I sing by myself. I have to see you live for more. I think I redid that vocal a lot of the last couple of years.

I just couldn't get what my performance was. And so usually when I can't get that, I cover it with effects. But the track is so messy that I didn't think that worked, having the vocal be so affected. So it was trying to get a good, like, dry single vocal for that verse. I just worked in it a lot. I recorded it so many times. And eventually I recorded it by slowing down the track by like 3% and then recording my vocal and then putting it back to regular speed.

Your skin's flag that shines for a soul you said before. The brown that shines. lights your darkest fall. I kind of wanted it to sound like a song that was being kind of tweaked live, like it was being adjusted, and the beat was being twisted, and things were being picked up, and microphone being passed around. Almost like it's the first try. There's something cool to me about that first try.

But it's not the first try. It's like the ameliumth try. And now here's Saint by Bloodstream. orange in its entirety. Visit for more, you've sent before before. Your skin's a flight that shines for us all, you said before I found the shine. And this one that'll be out for my own and for a link to buy or stream this song.

I have a new album of my own coming out on April 24th. It's been about 15 years since I last put out a full length, and this is the first one that'll be out under my own name, Rishikesh, Her Way. I started making Song Exploder when I was feeling lost in my own music career. And then for over a decade, I've gotten to have these incredible conversations about the process of making music, talking to other artists. And it made me completely rethink my relationship to music and my way of writing songs. And this album is the product of all of that. It features contributions from some of my favorite artists, including some folks that you may have heard on this podcast, like Iron and Wine, Kevin Morby, Vagabon, Fenlily, and the producer Phil Wine Roan. I'm going to be on tour playing in cities across the U.S. starting in April, and I'm trying to bring the spirit of the podcast with me.

So every show that I'm playing will begin with a conversation about the album with a different amazing guest moderator in each city. Like Adam Scott, Samin Nasrat, Jason Manzukas, Josh Molina, Minjin Lee, Ken Jennings, John Roderick, Austin Cleon, and more. They're all going to be my conversation partners on stage. And then I'll play with my band. The album is called In the Last Hour of Light, and the first couple songs are out now. You can listen to the music and get tickets for the shows on my website, rishikash.com. Or just go to songexploder.net slash live. That's songexploder.net slash live. Thanks.

This episode was produced and edited by me, along with Christian Coons, with help from Nick Song. The illustration for this episode was done by Carlos Lerma. You can see that on songexploader. on our Instagram. Song Exploder is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a collective of fiercely independent podcasts. You can learn about all of our shows at Radiotopia.fm. You can find Song Exploder on Facebook, Instagram,

and Twitter at Song Exploder. My name is Rishi Keish Heiwey. Thanks for listening. Radiotopia.