Replica

72->86
Oneohtrix Point Never's "Replica" is an album that I initially didn't feel particularly passionately about one way or the other. I will admit to some of this initial lack of intrigue being due to this mostly being on in the background for me. However, upon peeling back its layers and really letting a project like this one sit with the listener, this really is a project that uses samples, loops, and production tricks to really fuck with the listener's head and get into their mind. By messing with preconceptions of how ambient and/or plunderphonics music should conventionally be presented, Daniel Lopatin managed to craft a bizarre and disorienting yet thoroughly engaging experience. Nearly every song here feels like it deconstructs itself in some way, leading many of the tracks here to remain in this constant state of ambiguity, where it's nearly impossible to guess what will happen in any given song if you don't have any prior knowledge of the record. This is what I love to see in music, especially stuff that leans into progressive electronic stylings - I hate when the opening to a record dictates the entire rest of the experience for me. Luckily, OPN manages to avoid this issue by making an album where nearly every song stands out in its own unique way.

Above all else that I could say about it, though, "Replica" is an experience based listen, and thus I'm judging it as such. There are moments here that, for lack of a better term, are haunting, like "Submersible" for example. This track gives me the feeling of being trapped underwater in a deep, dark sea with little chance of finding my way back to the surface. "Sleep Dealer" is a hypnotizing track in the way that it plays with loops that feel all too familiar and begins to become thoroughly more strange as the track goes along, and the following "Remember" only goes to further show what a truly disorienting experience this record is. In spite of its relatively simple song structures and production, it always feels like there's something deeper laying underneath the surface here. The track "Up", for example, feels particularly unnerving due to just how unnatural it comes across to me. It's a feeling that's hard to put into words, but one that permeates the entirety of "Replica", and there's no way such a thing just happened by coincidence. Overall though, I completely adore "Replica" and I fully understand the hype now. Above all else, this is an album designed with the specific intent to create a unique experience for the listener, and I hope that all who decide to check it out give it the time and patience needed for it to create such an experience, as it's surely one of the most unique I've had.