STACK September 2016 Issue 143

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It’s really, finally here: Frank
Ocean has released his third
album Boys Don’t Cry Blonde.
Forget all the hype, forget the
visual albums, the wait, forget
channel ORANGE.
Blonde opens with lead single
Nike, a commentary on the social
injustices in America today. It’s
layered with vocals swaying from
his soothing falsetto to auto-tuned
hooks: the perfect way to kick off.
Pink + White is a cold beer on a
hot day, though you wouldn’t know
it was Bey on backing vocals if it
wasn’t written in the credits; Solo
is a heavy-hitting comedown, a
jaded sequel to channel ORANGE’s
Lost; Solo (Reprise) pops up later in
the album with Andre 3000 letting
Frank take a back seat – a dramatic
footnote to this Lost/Solo trilogy.
Much of the album plays out
like a late night diary entry, Nights
and Seigfried especially. Ocean is
so popular because he can create
something unique which still has
the pop sensibilities to appeal
to the masses, and a remarkable
capacity to reflect on his life in
the present. Moments of self-
realisation ( White Ferrari) are the
most powerful and intimate on the
record. The release culminates with
the epic nine minute-long Futura
Free, an ode to the past four years
and the album’s creation, in which
the musician reflects on times
before he was ‘Frank Ocean’, day-
time jobs, and Tyler, The Creator
crashing on his couch.
You won't be disappointed.
FRANK OCEAN
For his debut album, Darren Hart’s ideas
spilled out like liquid lightning – some were
done in a day, and he had to learn to trust that
that didn’t mean the song wasn’t as good as
something he’d worked on for longer.
Because the truth is, right now he’s
absolutely chockers with ideas. “I want
to do another [album] straight away;
I’m trying to capitalise on the creativity
that’s building in me right now,” he says.
Despite what his press shots might
tell you, Hart (AKA Harts) is quick
to reveal a smile – his intense looks
belie a very tranquil manner, and an
ease in explaining his approach to the
incandescent, disco-funky, technically
astonishing and beautifully stirring tracks
on Smoke Fire Hope Desire. “These
songs started as a groove with just the rhythm
section – drums or bass,” he says, “so it was
very similar to how hip hop guys work; they just
work on beats, beats beats, and then they get
artists to collaborate and turn those beats into
songs. That’s exactly the process I went through
with this one.”
A shining talent on bass, drums, keys, guitar,
and voice (all of which he solely plays on Smoke
Fire Hope Desire , as well as producing), you’d
imagine Harts’ childhood environment must
have been full of instruments – but it didn’t
happen at home. “They weren’t available,” the
musician says simply. “I didn’t grow up in a
musical household or anything. I got into music
when I was around 15, in high school. I used to
stay back after school and book out the music
INTERVIEW
HARTS
room, just so I could play [drums].”
“My parents hated it – they hated
every aspect of me doing music
at that time,” he continues. “Only
recently did they actually accept it.
It’s hard for a parent… the music
industry’s so hard. It’s never a given.
If you don’t understand how to
actually navigate the business… you can still
make music for the love of it and that’s fine,
but if you want to make a career out of it, you
can’t. I actually did quit for a couple of weeks. I
was looking for other jobs and stuff. Then Prince
called me.”
Prince had seen some of Harts’ videos
on YouTube, and got in contact to invite him
to Paisley Park to jam, learn, record. Harts’
understanding of music is now coloured with
notions he absorbed from Prince, and his
speech is peppered with purple wisdom. When
speaking about his very percussive approach
to bass – his style is a fascinating marriage of
rhythm and melody – he says that ‘bass’ should
be spelled ‘base.’ “That’s something Prince
actually told me. He said that in those exact
visit
10 SEPTEMBER 2016
MUSIC NEWS
continued
words: ‘Bass should be renamed ‘b-a-s-e.’”
He recognises the Prince Effect, gratefully
and graciously. “Prince changed me. There’s
so much stuff embedded in me now. I’m like
‘Where did I get that from? Oh, Prince said that,
that’s why.’ He gave me so much straight-up
advice, and I understood exactly what he was
saying.” Harts believes that because Prince
had been articulating these things for so long,
he’d condensed them down into these maxims
that stick in your brain, much like b-a-s-e. And
he wouldn’t have minded Harts sharing them;
in fact, it was his wish to further interest
and excitement in traditional musicianship in
young people. “He’s trying to spread the word
through musicians,” Harts says. “That’s one
of the reasons why he pulled me up, because
he wanted to get in touch with my audience,
the younger audience. He wanted the real
musicians and real music to make a comeback
in pop music so badly. He encouraged a lot of
people like me… to spread the word, to bring
peoples’ attention to what could be done.
It’s really hard to explain. But he could have
articulated it perfectly.”
Words: Tim Lambert
Smoke Fire
Hope Desire
by Harts is out
September 16 via
Dew Process /
Universal.
TOURING
16/09 - 08/10
Blonde by
Frank Ocean is
out now, self-
released by the
artist.