Oneohtrix Point Never : Again

Daniel Lopatin has had quite the creative and artistic arc with his electronic project Oneohtrix Point Never. From the psychedelic beginnings of drone-heavy albums like Betrayed In The Octagon, Russian Mind, and Returnal; to experimenting with grander scopes on R Plus Seven, Garden of Delete, and his most recent record Magic Oneohtrix Point Never. Lopatin even began scoring films for the Safdie Brothers on films like Good Time, Uncut Gems, and the upcoming Showtime series The Curse. There’s also recent work with The Weeknd and Soccer Mommy.

Daniel Lopatin continues to move the long-running project in new and forward-thinking directions. On his latest titled Again, an album Lopatin says has a connection to 2015s Garden of Delete. He sees the album as a collaboration between himself now and his younger self. Dizzying, melancholic, and glitch-driven, Again his OPN’s most obscure and personal record to date.

Again hangs in the balance between inviting and cold-shouldered. Songs that revel in their own personal stories, while never sharing an ounce of them. We the listener are forced into interpretation and making these sonic tales our own. Some of the best music is that way; no narrative to fit our emotional connection into. We make of it what we will.

Again opens with the dizzying orchestral noise of “Elseware”, something that wavers between Brodsky Quartet and John Cage. Its chaos is tempered with a sense of longing. Title track “Again” sounds like 80s 8-bit videogames attempting to write sad melodies in the midst of a circuit board meltdown. The song is reminiscent of the pre-Replica days, or pre-Warp Records days. When Lopatin was working in one world but looking forward to what was coming. Warm buzzes and blips inviting and warm in nostalgic light. “World Outside” revisits the rhythmic chaos of Garden of Delete, while “Locrian Midwest” hangs in optimistic, synthetic sound.

You can hear what appears to be something coming to a close on Again. An artist coming to terms with who they were, where they came from, and the creative path they’ve been on for close to 20 years now. Revisiting old feelings and closing a book on a chapter. Despite the alien nature of the sounds on here, there’s an overwhelming sense of nostalgia for something that may or may not have ever existed.

Oneohtrix Point Never has been on a musical hunt for personal discovery for almost a decade now. Starting with Garden of Delete, then Age Of followed by 2020s Magic Oneohtrix Point Never, Lopatin seems to have worked out the last of that discovery with Again. An obscure nut to crack, but once you do you’ll find much to love on this music journey.