Oneohtrix Point Never - Returnal

It wasn’t until I went back to this one that I realised how essential it is in the OPN discography. Returnal seems to fit snugly between OPN’s dreamy vaporwavey stuff and a lot of the more heavily looped and sample-based work that would come after it, all housed in ambient new age-tinged walls. Take the start of Pelham Island Road as an example, with the choppy pitch-shifting beginning reminiscent of Replica and R Plus Seven, leading into an ever-rinsing wash of pads and synths that seem like a fully realised version of his Chuck Persons days. In this amalgamation of multiple sounds and styles he clearly loves is something that feels nostalgic toward the past but set in the future, like the opening moments of Nil Admirari are your echoing yelps as you’re blasted into cyberspace at light speed. Whatever world he’s created here sometimes feels more familiar than other times, like dozing off in a warm relaxing spa on Describing Bodies rather than coming to in an alien intergalactic rave on Preyouandi. I think he went on to make better records than this, but this project is so recognisably OPN that it should not be skipped in his collection of albums.

KEY TRACK: Pelham Island Road - I’ve mentioned him countless times on this page but this reminds me of a much more electronic and buzzing version of Tim Hecker, cacophonously dense and beautifully arranged, especially when the more bassy tones are brought in about halfway through.