Aug. 01, 2012 - Issue #876: The Art Of Serving
Channel Orange
Channel OrangeFrank Ocean {recordings_bands_mg} Channel Orange {/recordings_bands_mg}
Island/Def Jam,
4
A flamboyant collage of highly fantastic sounds at one moment, an array of often remarkably low-key ones at another; Frank Ocean's first commercial release doesn't need to lean on the praise his sexual fuzziness seems to be garnering to be considered a near-masterpiece. Nothing like the slinkiness and pop-icon status of "Novacane" from Ocean's Nostalgia Ultra mixtape, or the pure power-machismo he sat beside on "No Church in the Wild," from the Kanye West/Jay-Z demigod-project, Watch the Throne, Channel Orange develops best from the moments of strummed pain and unrestricted sound found in Ocean's wild honesty and his roped-in crooning. His candour is right at home with all-access to captivatingly dense sounds and his shuddering melodies—ones that magically overlap with scattered, zoned-out and soulful R&B production. Maybe the album's highlight, maybe not, "Pyramids"—the album's obvious opus, both in structure and in decadence—mirrors the Channel Orange agenda: it's a travelling piece of doomed romance and lyrical wonder, joined with a constantly-unfurling slice of R&B allure. Channel Orange may be Ocean's first, but it's moments of throwback soul and innovative R&B show the right amount of musical restraint and pure integrity could make this the album of the year.vueweekly.com comments: powered by Disqus
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