Slowly but surely, Frank Ocean is emerging from reclusion. Ocean released his first solo song in almost two years in November, and now he’s shared a spare, eerily good cover of “At Your Best (You Are Love).” The tune was originally written and released by the Isley Brothers, but Ocean’s take is hard to read as anything but a tribute to Aaliyah, who did a famous cover of the song in 1994 and whose 36^th birthday would have been Friday.

It’s tough to match Aaliyah’s silky falsetto, but Ocean’s upper register is in prime form here, floating over some piano and synth with stunning emotive force. Also of note are the track’s last 20 seconds, which seem to be a snippet of another song entirely—fingers crossed that it’s a glimpse of Ocean’s long-awaited Channel Orange follow-up.