Again

Personal and grand at the same time, Again's mixtape of memories continues Lopatin's enduring brilliance at moving forward by looking back.

Daniel Lopatin’s new experimental LP weds strings and electronics over 13 distinct tracks.

There’s a wealth of grace and unearthly beauty to be found in these glitched-out compositions.

No longer an underground quantity thanks to his work with The Weeknd and the all-consuming score to the Safdie Brothers’ film Uncut Gems (2019), his chaotic, emotive electronic style is perfectly suited to the AI tools used here.

With Again, Lopatin captures the numbing clutter and volatile emptiness of post-digital, post-humanistic life: the silence that chokes, the clamor that drowns. And while these aren’t original themes (numerous artists have explored these polarities), Lopatin’s response seems notably relevant and largely his own.

You could criticise Again for the way it presents an excess of ideas that challenge its coherence as a seamless listening experience; its shifts in tone render it slightly more challenging to digest than Oneohtrix’s more classic albums. Nevertheless, it stands as an admirably robust addition to a back catalogue with few equals.

Frequently unclassifiable, and never dull, ‘Again’ is a stop-sign on his perpetual onward journey.

Another dazzling yet soulless smorgasbord of bold, modern pop composition that mixes the latest AI with more old-school contributions from Lee Renaldo and Jim O'Rourke.

0PN enhances some of the past sounds of his career on Again.

Daniel Lopatin returns with a nostalgic jam session full of proggy synth passages and ’90s alt-rock touches. It leaves a lot to admire but a little less to think about.

Daniel Lopatin now adds post-rock, prog and artificial intelligence to his melting pot of avant garde electronics.