Channel Orange

気鋭ヒップホップ集団OFWGKTAの一員でありつつ、ジェイ・Zやビヨンセにも関わる凄腕ソングライターでもある重要人物が遂にアルバム・リリース!美しいファルセットを聴かせる''ThinkinBout You''、ジョン・メイヤー参加の''White''など、ジャズやソウルにチルウェイヴなどを織り交ぜ、独特の浮遊感を持つR&Bサウンドへと昇華する才能は驚異的。

ジェイ・Z、カニエ、ビヨンセ、ジャスティン・ビーバー、ジョン・レジェンド等多数の大物アーティストに楽曲提供し、BBCが選ぶ2012年のブレイク新人=“SOUND OF 2012”においても2位に選出されている超実力派シンガー・ソングライターのデビュー・アルバム。
ユニバーサル

Rolling Stone - 4 stars out of 5 -- "There are echoes of soul forebears on Ocean's first official LP -- Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone, Prince -- but his feel for romantic tragedy links him to an older tradition: He's a torch singer." Billboard - "Frank Ocean has quietly become the most unique and progressively minded presence in R&B. His major-label debut, CHANNEL ORANGE is the work of a thoughtful and fearless artist..." Mojo - 4 stars out of 5 -- "CHANNEL ORANGE is a startlingly ambitious affair; a spectral journey through emotionally empty landscapes that shifts from bass-bunkered confessionals to futuristic digi-soul stompers....[A] rich and complex album." Q - 4 stars out of 5 -- "While Ocean's artistic ambition is impressive, it's his haunting candour that really casts a spell." Entertainment Weekly - "CHANNEL ORANGE feels like the bravest act of vulnerability in recent memory....His empathy runs so deep, it hurts."

Channel Orange is the debut studio album from Frank Ocean, whose brand of R&B often tenderly portrays love and heartbreak with a sharp sense of humor that separates him from many of his contemporaries. Featuring the likes of John Mayer and Andre 3000, Channel Orange is an exciting collection of songs that includes lead single "Thinkin Bout You".|

Def Jam's contracted edition of Frank Ocean's Nostalgia, Ultra never materialized. The label nonetheless released two of the mixtape's songs as singles. One of them, "Novacane," clashed with everything else on the radio, reached the Top 20 of Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart, and crossed into the Hot 100. The singer's presence spread with appearances on Goblin, 4, Watch the Throne, and The OF Tape, Vol. 2. He then completed this album with Malay, Om'Mas Keith, and Pharrell as his co-producers. Journalists present at June pre-release listening events speculated that some of the lyrics revealed Ocean's bisexuality. Ocean subsequently published a screen shot of a document, dated December 27, 2011, that included details of a crushing romantic relationship with a male. Ocean also revealed that he wrote for the sake of his sanity and credited his inner circle: "I'm sure these people kept me alive, kept me safe." One listen to Channel Orange makes it obvious that he is as free as an artist as he is as a man. The album doesn't have as many slyly powerful hooks as Nostalgia, Ultra, but Ocean's descriptive and subtle storytelling is taken to a higher level. He's up there with Bilal. As easy as it is to listen to Ocean's voice in long stretches -- he's casually expressive -- the number of deep ruminations over slow tempos requires some patience. Even the lone song that could be termed a banger is a ten-minute suite that takes 90 seconds to get on the floor; the song with the widest and most creative scope as well, "Pyramid" shifts from "my black Queen Cleopatra" and ancient Egypt (over swift synth funk) to "Your love ain't free no more" and a strip club (over booming, low-profile slickness). The lighter moments, such as the loose and bright "Sweet Life" and the relatively exuberant "Monks," both of which would be standouts on any N.E.R.D. album, offer more than bright coating, dealing in surrealism and sharp observations that are equally penetrating. On the other end, the most personal song is "Bad Religion," a phenomenal brokenhearted ballad consisting of organ, piano, strings, and handclaps: "This unrequited love/To me it's nothing but a one-man cult/And cyanide in my Styrofoam cup." Everything that falls between, counting the rumbling drug dependency tale "Crack Rock," the snapping/swooning "Pilot Jones," and the longing falsetto shuffle "Thinkin Bout You," is vivid and worthy of complete immersion. ~ Andy Kellman

所属するオッド・フューチャーのムーヴメントと並行し、ソロ名義でのミックステープやソングライティング／客演ワークなどでの高水準な仕事ぶりで大きな注目を集め、待望視されていたフランク・オーシャンのソロ・デビュー作。そのリリース方法や自己のセクシャリティーのカミングアウトなど何かと話題も多いが、その話題性に違わぬ圧倒的な内容で今年の年間ベスト入りは必至だろう。切なく歌い上げる先行曲“Thinkin Bout You”や上記のカミングアウトも話題となったサッド・ストーリー“Bad Religion”など、さまざまなタイプの刺激的なラヴソングが中心となり、アンドレ3000やジョン・メイヤーらとの新鮮なコラボも並んでいるが、なかでもファレル・ウィリアムスと共作した“Sweet Life”が実に甘美だ。
bounce (C)升本徹