BLOOD ORANGE with YVES TUMOR at Danforth Music Hall, Monday, October 1. Rating: NNNN
While the sold-out crowd trickled into the Danforth Music Hall, Blood Orange opener Yves Tumor took the stage solo. Soaked almost entirely in blood-red lights, the multi-disciplinary artist performed mostly tracks from his recently released and fantastically diverse new album Safe In The Hands Of Love. In contrast to his reputation as an enigmatic, media-shy producer, Tumor’s energy was raw and confrontational, as he jumped repeatedly into the audience.
Despite the expectedly aggressive, murky backing tracks, Tumor presented a more sultry, sexually charged side to his work. The slender performer, who is known to obscure his image, exuded a sleazy glamour in skin-tight bellbottoms, bare chest and large glasses. He smiled and slithered around the stage throughout his performance, which was a promising gesture, indicating we have plenty to look forward to as he reveals more dimensions of himself as a performer, slowly emerging from the clutches of self-imposed anonymity.
Things took a decidedly classy turn as Blood Orange appeared for the first of two sold-out shows. Appropriately framed around dialogue samples from Dev Hynes’s most recent Blood Orange album, Negro Swan, the interludes between songs highlighted themes of chosen family, queer identity and the contemporary Black experience. It served as refreshing reminder of the conceptual background to each of Blood Orange’s stellar releases.
The first half of the set stuck to a simmering pace, with the British singer/songwriter/producer mostly perched behind his baby grand piano, appearing as a sort of maestro, rather than the sole focus. His impressive six-piece band played atop five-foot risers. All multi-instrumentalists, they swapped an artillery of horns and keys throughout the show. It was a thrilling representation of the community of young musicians Hynes champions both on his recordings and in the live context.
There was a mostly low-key sing-along vibe in the room, with the crowd responding warmly to tracks from Hynes’s most recent album. Despite the restrained sense of anticipation, the audience remained low-energy for the first half of the show, prompting Hynes to speak up about it. “You don’t have to be so quiet, Toronto. You can do anything here. Anything goes.” People finally seemed to loosen up as the band laid into tracks like Chamakay, off 2013’s Cupid Deluxe.
It would be a disservice to refer to Ian Isiah and Canadian-born Eva Tolkin as backup singers. Both are respected up-and-coming artists in their own right, and they held their own throughout the show. They repeatedly took solos throughout the set, while simultaneously acting as the hype-crew for the room. The crowd went particularly wild in response to Isiah’s near acapella, mid-show performance of his feature track Holy Will, from Negro Swan.
Toward the end of the set, Hynes finally appeared solo, performing songs from his first Blood Orange album, Coastal Grooves, on a minimal keyboard and drum machine setup. These stripped-down moments provided a glaring reminder of how impressively expansive Hynes’s work as a musician and songwriter have become, given the humble, bedroom-recording origins of his well-deserved fame.
After having finally worked Toronto into a groove, Hynes announced his last song, with just the three singers performing the Negro Swan album closer, Smoke. The track brought things back to a cool and reflective close.
Remaining otherwise tight-lipped, Hynes expressed his gratitude for the sold-out shows, before leaving the stage without an encore. There was the sense that both the band and the audience left on a very impressed and celebratory note.
music@nowtoronto.com | @KevinHeggs_
