Set the cheetahs on the loose...
McLovin
Lately I've been really enjoying Frank Ocean's debut album ' Channel Orange'. Of the recent crop of RnB singers associated with the rap scene (Drake half of the time and, erm, Chris Brown), there seems to be something else about Ocean. Maybe he is more sincere; certainly he is more ambitious and creatively driven than his peers.
Take this album track 'Pyramids' as an example. Close to ten minutes in length, the first half of the song is all about the Egyptian ruler Cleopatra, all crunching synths and abstract imagery. It then brilliantly shifts gear into some sort of 90s club slow jam, with a stripper/prostitute who also happens to be called Cleopatra. It then ends with an extended guitar solo, not a million miles away from someone like Prince. Somehow, it all makes a dreamy kind of sense.
I really admire the imaginative scope of Ocean. He doesn't seem afraid to experiment, and he's willing to push boundaries. Refreshingly, he also isn't heavily reliant on autotune; 'Thinking About You' features some gorgeous falsetto, while the album as a whole is as rich, subtle, and just downright fun as 'Pyramids'.
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