Oneohtrix Point Never - Replica

Source: The List (Issue 689)
Date: 19 October 2011 (updated 9 Jan 2012)
Written by: Nicola Meighan

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Blurring synthesisers and disembodied vocals into cohesive, if disorientating, whole

(Software/Mexican Summer)

Oneohtrix Point Never, aka US composer Daniel Lopatin, became a torchbearer for the hypnagogic pop movement thanks to his audio-visual 80s synth reverie (particularly the ‘Nobody Here’ YouTube clip, which rewired Chris de Burgh’s ‘Lady in Red’ as an ode to existential vacuity).

After two lauded lo-fi anthologies – 2009’s Rifts and last year’s ace Returnal (not to mention earlier DIY releases and this summer’s Ford & Lopatin LP, Channel Pressure) – Lopatin makes his studio debut with electronic song-cycle Replica.

It’s an album which furthers the artist’s knack for blurring synthesisers, disembodied vocals, cut-up samples from TV adverts, piano riffs and nostalgic found sounds into a cohesive, if disorientating, whole – as best evinced via the chopped-up hip-hop and MOR snatches of laser-ballad ‘Child Solider’.