Review Summary: Orange.
Synesthesia is a very curious condition. It's very outlandish and rare, and sounds like something out of a bad sci-fi movie. It isn't exactly a debilitating condition that will get you hospitalized--it does however, influence and affect your life. Someone who has grapheme-color synesthesia, for example, involuntarily and automatically associates letters and numbers with certain colors. So someone with grapheme-color synesthesia will associate the letter A with red. No matter what, A will always be red and they will automatically perceive A to be red whenever they see it. Frank Ocean has synesthesia. He clearly has an infatuation with the color orange. When he was writing this album and recording it, he most likely was thinking, "orange," and for good reason.
Channel Orange, its songs, and its vibe--it's all orange. But what is orange about it? It's almost impossible to describe why something feels a certain color--like why is love and desire thought of to be red and not blue? But something about the smooth, soulful, funky, R&B-tinged style of music on this album just
feels orange.
Aside from its obvious orange-ness,
Channel Orange is a special, strange album. Frank Ocean structured this album so it would play like a TV channel--there are many "commercials" throughout the album, or musical interludes between songs with varied sound effects and feelings. Also, Frank Ocean has mixed a number of genres like R&B, hip-hop, funk, soul, rock. Therefore
Channel Orange cannot be categorized, but rather toys with a number of influences and jumps around between genres. Another unique attribute to the music on Frank Ocean's debut album is his lyrics. While most of his music is primarily R&B, Frank does not sing or rap about sexual promiscuity, drugs and alcohol for the most part like Abel Tesfaye of The Weeknd. Frank Ocean sings about love, and love is orange. Frank Ocean pours himself into this album, and for that it's very personal, yet also accessible. Many of the songs on this rather long LP have catchy hooks and on the surface are not too complex pop songs, but under the surface Frank Ocean is a one-of-a-kind songwriter.
One example of brilliant songwriting is the album centerpiece and future classic "Pyramids." Akin to Kanye West's "Runaway" on his 2010 masterpiece, Pyramids is a longwinded, nine-plus minute epic with an instrumental breakdown towards the end. The song is broken up into two parts--the first part, Frank Ocean's excellent lyrics evoke images of Ancient Egypt, Cleopatra, and the Pyramids of Giza. But after a lush interlude, Frank Ocean sings a dirtier, sexier, more soulful song about a stripper and the strip club she works at, The Pyramid. Frank Ocean bridges these two ideas brilliantly. The music itself is broad and epic, the first part a funky yet orderly song, and the second part being the part when the song really shines. It is a smooth R&B song, punctuated by clever lyrics and intricate melodies, yet still managing to be rather simple. All of it ties together surprisingly well, and has the distinction of being the most powerful and the best song on the album.
But Pyramids is definitely not the only good song on the album--
Channel Orange has an abundance of brilliant tunes, the first one being "Thinkin Bout You," a romantic slow jam that displays Frank's amazing voice. He has a massive range, the strongest part of it being his high register, which soars on the chorus of "Thinkin Bout You." The song is emotional and classy, even though it does touch on cheesy at points. The next brilliant song is track 5, "Sweet Life." The song is underlined by a brilliant, wandering, bubbling synth melody that never seems to center on a certain melody. The lyrics evoke images of the beaches and high life in California, and the production does the smooth melody justice. Another display of Ocean's amazing songwriting ability, the song features delightfully jazzy piano and a very catchy chorus.
The album is extremely solid, with almost no disappointing tracks, although the interludes are generally boring and unnecessary. Some of them are a bit pretentious, and they do nothing to strengthen the album. Possibly Frank Ocean's best weapon, though, is his extremely versatile voice, whether he's rapping, singing in a baritone voice, or an impressively high falsetto. Simply, the originality of the songs, Ocean's ability as a songwriter and a singer make this a modern classic for anybody. Orange may just be my new favorite color.
