USA TODAY International Edition
There’s lots to see on Frank Ocean’s new, visual ‘ Endless’
After years of not- so- patient waiting, an album
Frank Ocean didn’t skimp on his long- awaited return. After four years of waiting for
Channel Orange’s follow- up, fans got some relief Friday when the reclusive R& B singer unveiled a visual album titled Endless via a live stream on his website — the first of two new albums he released this weekend, including
Blonde. Both albums are now available on Apple Music.
Once again, Ocean, 28, plays carpenter in a black- and- white video. But unlike his previous streams, this Endless staircase-building session is soundtracked by 45 minutes of new music.
Endless famously follows a period of silence from Ocean, and it sounds like an album made by a recluse, in the best possible way: His emotions are more muted, his references are less obvious, and his influences are wideranging from years of research and practice and woodshedding. Whether you’re just diving into
Endless or finally coming up for air, here are four takeaways to watch for. FRANK’S PAL JAMES BLAKE IS A PRESENCE The British producer/ singer is a noted fan of Ocean, telling Rolling Stone in an interview early this summer how Ocean’s new music has in- spired him. “His music was a huge influence on the way I was writing the record, the way I was writing melodies,” he said. Tellingly, he became a fan of Ocean not because of Channel Orange’s R& B, but “when I heard his newer music.” Listening to Endless casts his comments in a new light. Blake’s fingerprints are all over the album — his spare production, layered harmonies and lovelorn lyrics buried under reverb — way before the singer’s vocals appear around the 24- minute mark. Given the years Ocean’s spent in the studio, we don’t know which artist influenced the other one first. All we know is Blake’s May release, The Color in Anything, and Ocean’s Endless are spiritual siblings.
IT’S NOT AN ALBUM PROPER To be sure, Endless is far from just skittering beats and shadowy vocals.
Just as Blake has played around outside his full- length albums by releasing EPs experimenting with new sounds, Endless is a mood board of an album, cluing listeners in to Ocean’s musical inspirations as one song bleeds into the next.
Endless is a fascinating streamof-consciousness of an artist building on the R& B foundation he laid with Channel Orange, where he summoned the spirits of Marvin Gaye to give the genre’s classic sounds a modern update. The album sees him broadening his definition of R& B by favoring electronic beats over classic instrumentation and handing over the lyrics so clearly articulated on Orange to different voices or different languages, its words tripping over each other or melting away into the background altogether.
And in lieu of a soaring album closer or a quiet outro, Endless closes with the robotic voice of German artist Wolfgang Tillmans talking about smartphones over lockstep synths. If Ocean’s flipping of Elton John’s Bennie and the Jets on the Orange track Super Rich Kids defines his debut album’s nostalgic streak, the defining reference on Endless is his nod to Aaliyah’s Let Me Know ( At Your Best) that opens the album, a clue that he’s looking toward more contemporary influences. AND IT’S NOT ‘ CHANNEL ORANGE’ If Endless had been all we got from Ocean for the next four years, Channel Orange devotees may have been left without the album they were hoping for. Ocean’s simply- sung love songs over simple keys or acoustic guitars still show up.
But instead of serving as the album’s backbone, they’re segues in between minutes of beats or layered vocals, his lyrics far less stark than his plainspoken honesty on fan favorites Thinkin Bout You or Bad Religion. ... BUT THAT’S OK Because Ocean delivered two albums that show different sides of him as an artist. On Blonde, which he premiered late Saturday night, Ocean flaunts the bold, heart- onhis- sleeve persona that many fans had been waiting to see.
Endless, in contrast, sounds like an album made by a recluse; Ocean’s emotions are more muted, the album’s references less obvious, his influences wideranging.
Based on the Internet’s instant reaction, fans aren’t writing it off as a meandering experiment or a disappointing left- turn. Endless is an album that’ll reveal itself more with every listen. Crafty Internet users likely will chunk the album into separate tracks. Ignore them, put the 45- minute stream on a loop, and let yourself discover new riches with every cycle.