This review was published in the seventh 2012 edition of BULL magazine.
You might not have heard of Frank Orange, but he’s
already worked with the crème de la crème of the American music industry: Beyonce,
John Legend, Jay-Z, Kanye West…and Justin Bieber. Now, on his debut album, Ocean
exhibits a musical breadth rare on a first innings.
It’s tempting to pigeon hole Ocean into the R&B
box, but Channel Orange feels more diverse than this tag would suggest. The breezy
‘Sweet Life’ lands somewhere between latter-day Kanye West and Amy Winehouse’s
early, care-free moments, and ‘Thinkin Bout You’ is reminiscent of the subtle
sensuality of Ocean’s work on Beyonce’s last album. ‘Pyramids’ is difficult to
pin down in one sentence – suffice to say it clocks in at ten minutes and makes
for truly fascinating listeningWhether intentional or not, a thread that binds the
album’s diverse sounds is the employment of uncommon, even confusing structures.
The sparseness of the production on many tracks is equally refreshing. Another
mark of consistency is Ocean’s evocative voice; his upper register particularly
is evocative of Stevie Wonder.
Amidst this mélange of influences and sounds, one
factor detracts from the whole. Four interludes, each
clocking in at well under 90 seconds, help flesh things out, but add little to
the musical side of things.
4 Stars
No comments:
Post a Comment