The album has thirteen songs and five interludes of which the most interesting is the collaboration with John Mayer where he shows his guitar skills sounding like Pat Metheny in this little instrumental song.

The whole feeling, beats, and songwriting is absolutely stunning, challenging and modern thanks to the production of Mayal (who has worked with Big Boi and John Legend) and Ocean himself but the whole cast of the album still hides some other amazing musicians, like the guitar virtuosos Charlie Hunter and John Mayer, the omnipresent Pharrel Williams on keyboards and Matt Chamberlain on drums. It is a sad, dark album that has the feeling of long summer nights where we wait for answers, but that somehow manages to keep the hope alive that something good is gonna happen in our lives.Īll this can sound like this album is something like an AOR version of an R&B album, but nothing like that. Here we have an unorthodox R&B album that oozes quality, sensibility, and class: an album that is closer to Stevie Wonder, than Usher, an old school but modern sounding album that is the soundtrack of what’s going on in Los Angeles now.

In a year, Ocean has passed from being the good boy that sang in a weird rap collective, to being one of the biggest names in the business, collaborating with Jay-z, Kanye West and Beyonce.

Decrease Font Size Increase Font Size Text Size Print This Page Send by Emailįrank Ocean, the most respected member of the infamous Los Angeles collective Odd Future, returns with his first album after the success that he had with his first mixtape Nostalgia Ultra, released last year despite the turbulent relationship with Def Jam now mended.

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