Devonté Hynes – Dev for short – was born in 1985 and raised in Ilford, east London. In the mid-2000s he was part of the clamorous nu-rave trio Test Icicles, and later, under the alias Lightspeed Champion, he took a detour into country-tinged indie-pop. Moving to New York, he began producing for artists such as Sky Ferreira, Carly Rae Jepsen and Solange. Since 2011, Hynes has been releasing music under the alias Blood Orange, drawing from 80s and 90s R&B and hip-hop to produce gorgeous, ethereal music with undercurrents of wooziness, anxiety and – increasingly – political anger. His new album, Negro Swan, is, he says, “an exploration into my own and many types of black depression, an honest look at the corners of black existence, and the ongoing anxieties of queer/people of colour”.

How did the album come together?

I was running around a lot, so it ended up being made in different places – in Tokyo and Osaka, Florence, Copenhagen. I would set myself up in a hotel room or Airbnb and try this experiment where I’d find out if there was a studio nearby and book a room, not bringing anything but hard drives, so that whatever I found in the studio was what I’d have to use.

Were you trying to shake things up – change your sound?

It was more like… I won’t say boredom, but I find it very easy to make music. So I like to play around a bit. If I go to a studio and they only have an acoustic guitar, then I’ll go with that. In fact, that’s how the last song on the album – Smoke – came about: there was just an acoustic guitar.

Has recording in different parts of the world had a tangible effect?

In a way, it’s made the album sound even more New York-y. The city is so ingrained in me that being away from it makes it even more so. But on the other hand, I think it’s added a different colour palette – some songs, such as Jewelry and Nappy Wonder, feel a little brighter.

I was struck by the way that stories gradually emerge the more you listen. It took me a while to realise that, beneath the blissed-out sound, Orlando is about being sucker-punched after school. Is that a detail from your own life?

Yeah, that’s super-autobiographical. It’s not often that I write about specific situations but that’s about getting the bus from Longbridge Road [in Dagenham, east London] to Chadwell Heath [where Hynes went to school] and the many obstacles I faced along the way.

You mean other kids beating you up?

Yeah, there was a lot of that.

Was music your refuge?

Music was always something that was happening. I was in orchestras playing cello and in metal bands playing drums and bass. But actually the main thing I was doing was playing football. That was the number one thing until I was 17 – I played for Dagenham & Redbridge FC. I still play football twice a week.

When did you realise music was something you were going to do seriously?

This may sound crazy, but I think it wasn’t until I was working with Solange and on the second Blood Orange album [Cupid Deluxe]. With Test Icicles, we were just really young, so it was just happening, you’re not really thinking. Even Lightspeed Champion felt sort of fleeting. I was feeling quite disheartened about music and didn’t really want to put stuff out. But then I met Solange and things started moving forward. I started to feel like, oh, maybe this is what I’m actually doing.

The most worrisome thing is the hyper-normalisation... It’s at the point where not a single thing is shocking

Were you excited by that?

No, I just kind of went along with it [laughs]. I realised that I was getting a bit more attention, and actually that’s the last time I ever looked at any reviews of my music. The last review I ever read was for the first Blood Orange album [Coastal Grooves].

How come?

There’s just no reason to. That’s not why I make music. Even if [the review is] positive it doesn’t seem very helpful. If a stranger came up to you and said they loved your shoes, or hated your jacket, for the next few days you’d be thinking about the shoes or the jacket and it would probably affect you. I don’t want that.

I hope this isn’t a major spoiler, but the reviews have been pretty good.

[laughs] OK. Thank you.

Do you read reviews of other people’s work?

Yeah. I’m really just a big fan boy, so I do read a lot of reviews. It could be anything. I like [TV critic] Emily Nussbaum in the New Yorker. I like [music critic] Craig Jenkins at New York Magazine. Durga Chew-Bose is great. I read Jon Caramanica’s music stuff [in the New York Times] a lot too.

There are interludes on the album where various people speak about their anxieties, frustrations and hopes. Who are they?

Most of the interludes are by [the writer and transgender rights activist] Janet Mock. She’s amazing. I read her book and loved her interviews, so I reached out to her a couple of years ago and told her I wanted her to be involved. Eventually she came over to my studio, we recorded our conversations and then I wove them in and out of the album.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Hynes performing as Lightspeed Champion in 2008. Photograph: Simone Joyner/Getty Images

There’s a very touching one where a man says: “What’s it going to take for me not to be afraid to be loved, the way I really want to be loved? I know how I really want to be loved but I’m like scared to really feel that.”

Oh yeah, that’s Puff Daddy.

Really? How did that come about?

Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. He was a fan of my last album and somehow got my number and called me and we ended up talking a lot. It was pretty strange. Anyway I was working on that song [Hope] and thinking how his presence on it would be really cool, so I sent it to him. Literally the next morning he sent me all this audio back. He just said that, musically, that’s what it evoked in him.

Was he speaking from the heart? It feels very exposed and almost vulnerable.

Yes, I think that’s him being very genuine.

Have you kept in touch?

Yeah we talk quite a lot. Honestly, he’s one of the nicest people.

Last year you interviewed Philip Glass in a video for NPR and he said: “The worst times we have in this country, that’s when the arts get best.” Do you agree?

Yeah, I think so. It’s already happening if you look at pop culture, which is always a great mirror. The last few years have given us some pretty amazing things across the board: Ta-Nehisi Coates, Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar, Solange, [Donald Glover’s TV series] Atlanta…

Consolation for living through terrible times… Is Trump’s America as bad as it looks from the outside?

It’s pretty intense. The most worrisome thing now is this sense of hyper-normalisation that takes over. It’s really at the point where there’s not a single thing that is shocking. Which is so crazy.

Do you feel race relations in America are getting worse?

Yeah, it’s hard. I worry because I’ve been zoning out lately, from numbness. It feels like it’s at a stalemate. It’s hard to see which way things are going to go.

Have you been working with other musicians recently?

The thing I’m really into at the moment, when people are working on stuff, is going in just as an addition, or to share ideas. I haven’t really been doing any producing lately, which is cool because I tend to produce out of necessity rather than a love of it.

Just to pay the bills?

No, more to get an idea across. But I’d rather not have to [produce for other people]. With my own stuff, it’s kind of like a fun thing. There’s no point where I’m like, “Let’s get this on the radio.” It’s just me, alone, working on music.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest ‘New York is so ingrained in me’: Dev Hynes performs on Randall’s Island, New York. Photograph: Joe Papeo/Rex/Shutterstock

If you could get paid for your music without having to release it, would you be happy?

Oh, that would be incredible. That would be amazing. [pauses] Well no, I’ve always wanted to share it with people who really want to hear it. If there was a way to just do that, that would be good. But it doesn’t always work like that. People think that when you release music, you’re trying to put yourself out there.

Do you enjoy playing live, or is it a necessary evil?

It’s weird to spend a month mixing an album, then go on stage – it’s like my nightmare. But I’m trying to change it so that it’s more enjoyable.

What do you get up to when you’re not working?

I’m usually playing football or basketball, or reading.

Football is less popular in the States. Is it hard to find fellow enthusiasts?

No. Actually, I just got a text about an opening on a new team. It’s funny, I play so much sports in New York, I’m on so many different [message] chains. Just last week I played basketball with complete strangers because a friend of a friend texted to say they were a player short. I’m so ingrained in NYC sports life now.

So if a player ever drops out of a game, someone will say, “Give Dev a call, he’s always up for it”?

Yeah. [laughs] I’m that guy.

Negro Swan is released on Domino on Friday