music
December 17, 2025
The 50 best albums of 2025: No 3
Dev Hynes’ deeply personal response to his mother’s death embodied the many unexpected shades of grief in pastoral hymnals and post-punk
TL;DR
- Dev Hynes' album 'Essex Honey' is a personal response to his mother's death.
- The album combines pastoral hymnals and post-punk influences to express grief.
- Musical elements include refashioned Durutti Column, Robert Rental-style post-punk, soulful duets, and funk.
- Hynes uses found sounds like seagull cries and samples from 'Desmond's' to ground the album.
- Guest vocalists like Zadie Smith, Tirzah, Caroline Polachek, and Lorde contribute to the album's emotional landscape.
- The album explores themes of loss, searching for meaning, and accepting the irretrievable.
- Hynes considered not releasing the record but decided to share it as a gift to fans.
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