Again

Oneohtrix Point Never has always struck me as an artist with a never ending desire to experiment and push the boundaries, never tending to explore the same idea twice. "Again" is beautiful, it's the sound of an already established and successful musician completely shedding the layers of commercial, mainstream appeal in the hopes of creating something new and boundary pushing and, miraculously, he did it. I don't know if electronic music has ever sounded like this before, it sounds so detached from all other albums in this genre, including his. The atmosphere of this album is so oddly specific that it feels damn near impossible to describe, but it's something that I felt deep within me during numerous moments throughout the track list. The slow burn nature of many of these songs is also a huge part of the appeal for me, it makes so many tracks here feel unpredictable rather than stagnant or easily comprehensible. Like much of OPN's work, "Again" is anything but easy listening. However, none of this is to say that this project felt alienating or pretentious in any way, really quite the opposite. Because past the glitchy layers, odd production styles and weird, off kilter detours and interludes is a piece of music that is both very unique and very specific to Oneohtrix Point Never as an artist, even though I can't really say I've heard anything from him that compares to this. It's weird, and a bit hard to describe, but then again that's kind of how this whole album feels to me. Conceptually this project is very vague, and I'm not even going to sit here and pretend like I completely understood what Daniel Lopatin was trying to say with this album, but in a way... I felt it. Somewhere in me, this album just clicks, it makes sense, even in spite of how cryptic and odd the whole thing feels, and that's just kind of beautiful to me.

For me, it's albums like this that remind me why I love music so much in the first place. The fact that something so decidedly vague and abstract can still affect me on such a deep, emotional level is insane and I'm incredibly grateful that we still have artists like OPN that are still subverting expectations in this way and are still attempting to breathe life into a medium that often already feels like it's explored every sound, every idea, every musical and lyrical concept out there. Because without them, what would we really be left with? Yes, traditional, popular music can be great, it can be comforting to have a certain formula that we can come to expect and easily understand, but at least for me, music as an artform cannot thrive on this convention alone. It's only through artists like Oneohtrix Point Never, The Caretaker, Swans, Xiu Xiu, Pheaph Baul, Pharoah Sanders, and so many others that this medium (as well as my undying love and passion for it), is able to continue to thrive and progress. I'm not entirely sure how to end this. This was a long, complicated mess of thoughts that I've done my best to try and condense down into comprehensible sentences, but I hope that on some level I got my point across. I'm not one to write very long reviews anymore, but considering how thought provoking and experiential this album felt to me, this feels like one that really deserved a longer writeup. Either way, if there's anything you should take away from this review, it's to listen to this album. It really is something special and one that I'm going to be thinking about for a while. Definitely going to be pretty high up on my favorite albums of 2023 list.