In which you're like "Fuck Frank, Earl's back!" Only, listen hard or you might miss him. In fact, the whole Busby Berkely-esque pomposity of it all sounds like Ocean's way of letting us know he's arrived.
Moving between smooth jazz-funk and a-cappella breakdowns, or massive synth-stoked choruses and Bond-style credits scoring, throughout Frank seems hell-bent on rolling out his best vocal moves. If Nostalgia, Ultra was all samples and re-voiced songs, Channel Orange is a musicianly affair, and 'Sweet Thing' its flagship brand. But then that would be too simplistic a definition for the multifaceted, resolutely accomplished 'Sweet Thing'. If you were looking around for a high concept pitch-style descriptor, with its synth brass and Philly soul strings you might call it 'Stevie Wonder meets N.E.R.D in space'. Like Superman eating a super hotdog while fighting King Kong while.ok you get the picture. Recounting his sexploits, as Frank "reaches for the nipple" his vocals cascade down chordal grades in quick succession, like saucy grunts punctuating an orgasmic exhalation. Like aquiline porn-soul melting from a warped vinyl, Ocean's honeyed tenor syncs with the lusty bass beats that protrude from desaturated washes of strings and wind-chime. 'Cloud-rap' by any other name, Channel Orange's most hipster cut plies a Main Attrakionz-esque mix of chillwave and wet-look 80s, before kicking it up a notch for a vintage funk jam, 70s style. The actual act he calls 'the heaven', or, in the style of Odd Future's Super 3 mixtapes - a spin on a fighter jet. Sure they fucked, but Frank talks in respectful euphemisms. Seeing that this is indie R&B, for the most part on Channel Orange love is innocent and born under the high school bleachers. Neither Swingbeat-unctuous or the vacuous mew of a soloing boyband-er, his angelic register is just pure, soul-scraping feeling. Telepathically serenading the girl who popped the Ocean cherry, in the motel room of memories Frank talks eternal love, breaking into a sublime Maxwell-esque falsetto that makes a good case for restoring the style to contemporary mainstream R&'B. Poised, considered, classy and moving, this is uniquely Frank Ocean. A slow-release torch song the colour of caramel and bathed in low voltage lighting, a buzzing but soothing synth cycle and muffled beats evoke touching and kissing in a velveteen womb. The Odd Future story continues.Īlthough scaled-up by elegiac strings (a new addition to January's Ocean-previewed version) Channel Orange's surprisingly low-key opener remains a gorgeously private affair. And to think that once upon a time he was just Tyler's mate with the voice. Only 16 months after Nostalgia, Ultra comes the glorious Channel Orange, almost entirely produced entirely by Ocean but with help from close friend Malay, a seasoned writer/producer who lend his services to a wide range of artists from 50 Cent to Big Boi to Killer Mike.Ĭhannel Orange is a staggering step upwards from Nostalgia, an event album in waiting that exceeds all expectations of the singer, who now can sit comfortably alongside the likes of The Weeknd as an R&B prodigy with a very bright future indeed ahead of him. Like a squirrel monkey, dressed as a woman, driving a car, in Bournemouth. Because ever since Ocean dropped his debut Nostalgia Ultra last January the Louisianan's been a very hard man to ignore. Track list with credits a surreal low-point for music PR the world over, Def Jam describe R&B wonder-kid and card-carrying Odd Future g-man, Frank Ocean, as "impossible to miss, like a panda bear in a pine forest." Exposed mammals aside though, they've got a point. But the buzz around Ocean and his new material was so great his debut returned to the Billboard 200 after a three-year absence. The rumor-mill cranked into overdrive that he was going to second album on Aug.
Ocean’s follow-up to his Grammy-nominated Def Jam debut Channel Orange was expected for release in July 2015, as teased in a cryptic post on his official site. Various unconfirmed reports suggest Ocean will scrap the title.Įverything We Know About Frank Ocean’s Long-Delayed ‘Boys Don’t Cry’ Album Sources close to the artist confirm Endless is a separate album, which means the wait goes on for Boys Don’t Cry. Ocean has piano, guitar and programing credits on the “visual album” and he’s listed as executive producer and creative director (see below). Arca has a programming credit on “Mine,” Sampha appears on “Alabama” and Jazmine Sullivan contributes vocals on four songs.
James Blake, the London Contemporary Orch estra, Om’Mas Keith and Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood (on string orchestration) are all featured on Ocean’s cover of The Isley Brothers’ “At Your Best (You Are Love)”.
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