However, if Blonde lacks the pop sensibility that Channel Orange had in spades, it also has a weird, shimmering beauty all of its own. The first track, Nikes, sees Ocean’s gorgeously soulful vocals wilfully distorted out of all recognition, while the ‘big-name’ guest stars (none other than Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar) have cameos so understated that you’d be hard-pressed to recognise them at all on the first few listens. There are no real hooks to be found on Blonde (styled Blond on the accompanying packshot), the entire hour-long affair being as languid and introspective as Channel Orange. The pre-release activity for Blonde has only stoked up the hype – whether it be a seemingly live stream of Ocean cutting up pieces of wood, or the surprise release of an entirely new ‘visual album’ called Endless – completing his contractual obligations to former label DefJam – or even an apparently last minute title change from Boys Don’t Cry, it seemed for a while that this album was just an figment of a particularly excitable Twitter storm.Įventually though, late on a Saturday night, Ocean’s ‘official’ new album was finally released and it’s as mystifying and contrary a beast as you’d expect. Yet four years has seemed like an eternity to everyone desperate for a follow-up to Channel Orange, a fact Frank Ocean himself poked fun at in a Tumblr post by thanking everyone “who never let me forget I had to finish. Brian Wilson, after all, took nearly 40 years to complete Smile, Guns N’ Roses‘ Chinese Democracy became a long-standing joke ages before the album’s eventual release 15 years after its predecessor, and only last month The Avalanches eventually brought their 16 year hiatus to a close with their album Wildflower. When you think about it, four years isn’t that long a period between albums.
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