Oneohtrix Point Never, Again
David Hicks | Published on 2/18/2024
March 2023 Music Pick
Oneohtrix Point Never, Again
By David Hicks
If you like your music slightly weird, but not annoyingly so, and you’d also like it to work as background music but still be interesting enough for you to want to pay attention to it while it’s playing, and you think some well orchestrated synth sounds can transport your moods...
Oneohtrix Point Never, or OPN is the pseudonym of Daniel Lopatin. OPN first garnered wider notoriety with the release of his 2009 compilation, Rifts, which was named the 2nd best album of the year by the UK magazine, The Wire. In 2014 OPN toured with Nine Inch Nails & Soundgarden and further broadened the publics awareness of their unique style of music which is broadly classified as Experimental Electronic Music, relying largely on MIDI production with Lopatin orchestrating as the composer, singer, and producer. Again is OPNs 10th album.
How does it sound? Not surprisingly, the music feels a bit like it would lend itself to movie soundtracks, and OPNs music has appeared in films, and won the Soundtrack Award at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival for the film Good Time. The soundtrack included a collaboration with Iggy Pop.
I discovered the album through ROON and Qobuz, so that is how I have been listening. Initially, I found the music slightly distracting as background music, but the distraction was such that I was compelled to listen to the compositions. In a strange way I find the music easy to have playing without distracting me, like if I am working on a detailed project and need to concentrate, while at the same time I find myself drawn to repeated listening of the music which enhances my appreciation for the seemingly unorganized melodic structure that turns out to be very organized in a way that lets repeated listening avoid creating the feeling of it being overplayed. I’m now a big fan.
YMMV.
Available on Oneohtrix Point Never - Again
YouTube: Oneohtrix Point Never - Again
And CD and Vinyl at your usual outlets.
