Devonté Hynes
“Palo Alto”
Palo Alto: Music from the Motion Picture (out June 3 on Domino)
Ten years ago, I never would have imagined that people like Aaron Sorkin and Mike Judge would spend time in nondescript stretch of suburbia that I grew up on, let alone devote their precious brain-space to it. James Franco, on the other hand, never had a choice. In 2010, the 36 year-old Palo Alto-native penned collection of short stories about growing up in said suburbia, which I’ve never had the courage to read (TOO MANY FEELS, MAN. TOO MANY FUCKING FEELS.).
The film was scored by Blood Orange mastermind, Devonté Hynes, and title track nails the weightless melancholia of life in my hometown, simultaneously carefree and tinged with darkness. Hynes’ graceful, evocative vocal glides over a languid guitar line, capturing the alluring, ephemeral nature of a beautiful California town built on a booming yet unstable economy. Whether Franco and director Gia Copolla can capture those feelings on the silver screen remains to be seen. I’m certainly looking forward to finding out.
