ThereвЂ™s an acute loneliness at the heart of all these vocal tweaks and flighty exploits. ItвЂ™s as if Ocean is so determined to not be defined that he extends in all directions at once, his voice his only lifeline. вЂњIвЂ™m not brave!вЂќ he shouts on the latter, reluctant to be an icon. вЂњIvyвЂќ and вЂњSeigfried,вЂќ his best performances to date, somehow topping вЂњBad Religion,вЂќ are just plain sterling. вЂњGood GuyвЂќ sounds like a glitchy Skype call, OceanвЂ™s voice barely breaking through. The opening vocals on вЂњNikesвЂќ flow like a jetstream, compacted and shrill. Throughout, OceanвЂ™s voice is pure fluid: it compresses, expands, dilutes and stretches. The only thing stabilizing this chaos is a folk sensibility: a persistent emphasis on the power of the voice. Surf rock transforms into new wave that morphs into electrosoul that evaporates into vaporwave.

Blonde is thoroughly radioactive, always unstable. channel ORANGE may have been eclectic, but it was clearly an R&B record. On Blonde past and present are nonexistent: time is blurred into oblivion, everything happening at once. On channel ORANGE the thrill of the grandiose вЂњPyramidsвЂќ was how the song connected past and present through shared names and symbols. вЂњPink + WhiteвЂќ juxtaposes escaping from floodwaters with recovering from heartbreak, never firmly establishing which one is the metaphor. вЂњSignal going in and out,вЂќ Ocean sings, unsure of where or when he is. вЂњNightsвЂќ drunkenly stumbles from a choppy phone conversation with a former lover into a sullen midnight stroll and then a sober recollection of OceanвЂ™s life after Hurricane Katrina. Throughout the album, Ocean flits in and out of memories and relationships, replacing the set pieces of channel ORANGE with slipstream vignettes. Blonde is just as evasive-Ocean obscures his face on the album cover-but itвЂ™s his most resonant work yet, constantly pushing past profound alienation to connect, however fleetingly, to something, someone. His absence from public life has been so absolute that it has spawned memes, conspiracy theories and fan fiction about him being seen IRL. Ocean has mostly existed in suspended animation in the interim between channel ORANGE and Blonde, leaving his fortress of solitude for the occasional feature or broadcasting his thoughts from within its dungeons via oblique tumblr dispatches. It was if he had built a bridge to an island entirely of his own design and all people talked about was the bridgeвЂ™s suspension cables. It certainly wasnвЂ™t a PR disaster-the album eventually went platinum-but for Frank, it had to be maddening: somehow a tiny blog post, an aside, really, eclipsed the grand vision that the post was meant to enrich. The album itself was more concerned with rich dimensions of love, loss and longing than rote sexuality, but OceanвЂ™s sexuality utterly dominated how people talked about the album. Prompted by a tumblr note published the week of the album release, that reaction had little to do with the music. DonвЂ™t be surprised if thereвЂ™s another long hiatus in the offing for Ocean, because Blonde is the kind of overflowing musical statement from which an artist needs time to recharge and for which an audience needs years to properly appreciate.Before it was recognized as a sprawling masterpiece, Frank OceanвЂ™s debut album channel ORANGE was pigeonholed as an overhyped album about coming out of the closet.

This is music that fascinates on first listen but requires multiple spins for its complexities and idiosyncrasies to take hold. There might not be single songs that jump out as effortlessly as вЂњThinkin Bout YouвЂќ and вЂњSuper Rich KidsвЂќ did from Channel Orange, but Blonde is a richer listening experience in totality. ItвЂ™s probably no coincidence that Ocean mentions вЂњwarm jetsвЂќ on вЂњClose To You,вЂќ because Blonde has the alluring ambience of Brian EnoвЂ™s production work. The musical backing is mostly spare, a slow-motion beat here, a watery organ there. OceanвЂ™s voice is always front and center, even when itвЂ™s altered into chipmunk tones (вЂњNikesвЂќ) or multi-tracked into fetching harmonies (вЂњWhite Ferrari.вЂќ) Ocean also flips from deadpan rapping to old-school soul emoting with nary an awkward transition. For all of the big-name producers, there is a commonality of approach on the album.

Blonde frank ocean album review