Frank Ocean shares visual album 'Endless' ahead of proper LP

For Frank Ocean fans, it's been an excruciating few weeks in anticipation for his next album with broken promises of release dates and drawn-out teasers.

Originally slated for an August 5 release, Ocean set up what seemed to be a live stream on the 'Boys Don't Cry' website, showing him slowly building and constructing something made out of wood. Though the 'stream' (which was eventually revealed as a pre-recorded video loop) ultimately didn't reveal the album, it did fulfill the promise of a "major visual component" to be released alongside the album.

Today, the entirety of the visual component was revealed as 'Endless', a 45-minute visual album that follows in the footsteps of Beyoncé, who released her 'Lemonade' effort unannounced as a visual album earlier this year. 'Endless' is made up of 18 tracks and notably includes a cover of Aaliyah's 'At Your Best (You Are Love)' with James Blake and Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead.

Credits for 'Endless' reveal a bounty of hidden gems about Ocean's vision, including recording locations (Abbey Road and Capitol Studios, among others) and appearances from Sampha, Arca and more.

'Endless' will not replace his third LP release, though it's been reported that the album may no longer be titled 'Boys Don't Cry', as Ocean had previously announced. Apple Music reps have suggested to Pitchfork to "keep an eye" on his activity this coming weekend.

See the entire tracklist for 'Endless' below and watch the visual album on iTunes here.

Tracklist:

1. ‘Device Control’ 2. ‘At Your Best (You Are Love)’ (Isley Brothers cover) 3. ‘Alabama’ 4. ‘Mine’ 5. ‘U-N-I-T-Y’ 6. ‘Ambience 001: “In a Certain Way”’ 7. ‘Commes Des Garcons’ 8. ‘Ambience 002: “Honeybaby”’ 9. ‘Wither’ 10. ‘Hublots’ 11. ‘In Here Somewhere’ 12. ‘Slide on Me’ 13. ‘Sideways’ 14. ‘Florida’ 15. ‘Deathwish (ASR)’ 16. ‘Rushes’ 17. ‘Rushes To’ 18. ‘Higgs’

****Valerie Lee is Mixmag's US Digital Editor. Follow her on Twitter here****