Frank Ocean, gentle R&B voice, finds live intimacy at NY festival
NEW YORK: Frank Ocean has captivated audiences since his debut with his tenderness, a gentle but unwavering voice in the often hyper-macho world of R&B and hip-hop.
Nearly a year after he released his long-awaited second album, “Blonde,” Ocean has presented his ever-patient fans with a live vision of his music, one that creates a kind of cinematic intimacy.
Headlining the first day Friday of Panorama, a year-old festival on New York City’s Randall’s Island, Ocean shunned the stage — which became a giant audiovisual project — as he performed in the round from an island in the crowd.
Ocean emerged to the boisterous beats of his track “Pretty Sweet” before immediately dialing down the exuberance with “Solo,” his bare, organ-backed confessional on embracing solitude.
Clicking a button on a mountain of equipment, Ocean appeared on the stage-screen in grainy footage akin to an old home video. But soon it became a slick, real-time concert movie with shots of Ocean and cheering fans fading into each other and occasional bursts of color including Ocean’s signature orange.
In a hint that the show may eventually wind up in a new form, director Spike Jonze filmed Ocean up-close through the entire set with a steadicam — a scene that could have figured as a subplot to his movies “Her” or “Being John Malkovich.”