Frank Ocean ~ Endless (Visual Album)
This album rollout was wild. You’d hop on the stream every day to see if there was any progress being made. It felt like days at a time before you’d start seeing any changes. Frank would be sawing wood for what seemed like hours. Every so often a brief instrumental would play to keep you interested in watching. No one really knew what we were watching. Some speculated he was building a giant boombox like the one in the corner of the room, and the album would begin playing upon completion. Days went by without much happening aside from cutting wood. Some fans would spend all day memorizing the details of the room in between Frank’s appearances to see if anything changed or hoping to maybe spot a clue as to what was unfolding. They studied the tools on the workbench, hoping to spot anything out of the ordinary. For a short time, people were fixated on the windows, convinced they saw shapes or faces that weren’t there. It ended up just being the sunlight from outside. Based on the layout of the room a few people said they recognized the studio, so they traveled to the location hoping to find Frank. Instead they found it completely empty. The stream was pre-recorded. They did a good job of spacing the clips out so it appeared Frank was actually coming into this studio on a live feed. After cutting all the wood, Frank began constructing long rectangular boxes. Was he making a giant piano, and these would be the keys? A few of the boxes would be painted a darker color leading some to theorize he was building individual speakers to scatter about the room. But it soon became clear that he was building a staircase. Upon completion, Frank ascended the staircase and the Endless began to play in it’s entirety. The music was incredible. I played it twice through before realizing something felt off. This didn’t feel like a normal album. There was a noticeable lack of substance that you’re accustomed to hearing from a full LP. We waited 4 years for an album full of half-songs? This can’t be right. There’s no way that this is all Frank leaves us before disappearing for another few years. I was grateful, yet not completely satisfied considering that we spent two weeks watching the guy build a measly staircase. —Zack G., in the comment section on YouTube
Editor’s note: Frank Ocean blows my mind.
Happy Sunday.
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