Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a production of MaximumFun.org and is distributed by NPR.

I'm Jesse Thorn, it's Bullseye.

Dev Heins is easily one of the most interesting musicians around today. He's a producer sometimes.

He's worked on hits for folks like Carly Rae Jepsen, ASAP Rocky, Malaya Carey, and many

more. He also produced the breakout Solange hit, Losing You.

Dev has also been making music of his own for over a decade. First under the name Lightspeed

Champion, then starting in 2011 as Blood Orange. His sound isn't easy to define. It changes

from album to album, even from song to song. You'll hear a bit of prints, some Brian

Eno, maybe Shadei every once in a while. It's music made to evoke feelings of nostalgia,

melancholy, and love. Beautiful music. His breakthrough album, 2016's Free Town Sound,

a bunch of year end lists, so did his follow up last year's Negro Swan. That's when I

taped this interview with him. This summer he released a mixtape, Angels Pulse, kind of

a follow up to Negro Swan. Here's a track off the record. This one is called Dark and Handsome.

Dev, nice welcome to Bullseye. It's great to have you on the show. Hey, thanks for having

me. So you're originally from a place called Essex. Can you tell me about that place? I've

never been. I know I was going to be representative for Essex England, but I don't know. I guess

the short of it is that in many aspects it's almost like the New Jersey of New Jersey

to New York, Essex to London. I guess in terms of just places that are outskirts of major

cities and what that kind of breeds in culture and yeah, within people. I mean, it's kind of

a weird place. I mean, you know, actually that metaphor is not even a metaphor because

from years ago, after the Jersey Shore was so popular, they made a UK one and it was

called The Only Way Is Essex. So it really is the mirror, I guess, in its own unique English

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