Oneohtrix Point Never

Magic Oneohtrix Point Never

His eleventh Oneohtrix Point Never album is a neat distillation of his canon.

It’s a thoroughly kaleidoscopic affair that proves to be one of the most imaginative and genre-defying records this end of 2020.

At its core, it’s Lopatin distorting the mechanisms of listening to and researching sound, in order to facilitate retroactive analysis.

‘Magic Oneohtrix Point Never’ continues in the same vein, offering a synthesis of the more accessible aspects of his work and a few surprises along the way.

Magic Oneohtrix Point Never is untethered in many respects, but makes perfect sense as a self-titled work: surreal, unpredictable, magic.

After the huge success of his score for Uncut Gems, Daniel Lopatin returns with an album of collage-like soundscapes, splicing together various forms of electronic, New Age and ambient music ... As ever, it’s as unpredictable as it is beguiling,

We’ve become accustomed to hearing his production in Hollywood movies and chart-topping albums, so perhaps it’s now more difficult for him to produce moments that truly astonish. That being said, the album still comprises some truly enchanting touches that could only have come from him, and often they appear when working around a vocalist.

Daniel Lopatin’s latest doesn't swerve in a new direction but instead serves as an overlook for his career, highlighting his skill at splicing the old and the new in continually fascinating ways.

There’s a powerful cohesion to the collection that makes it feel greater than the sum of its parts, with several standout fusions of singing and instrumentation/production as only Lopatin could yield.

As an overview of Daniel Lopatin's musical exploits, Magic OPN isn't quite as spectacular as it could have been.

MOPN would have landed much better if it abandoned the balancing act between the past and the present in exchange for wholehearted embrace of Lopatin's current realities.