Despite his album leaking, in what translates to a decade on the internet, a couple of weeks ago, Oneohtrix Point Never (Daniel Lopatin) somehow managed to give some momentum to the release of R Plus Seven. Maybe it's because this is his first album on Warp records, or possibly due to his recent collaboration with Tim Hecker? It's more than likely the case that ever since his smash-hit release (in relative terms) Replica this experimental musician has been widely regarded as a talking point for those who like to sit down with an album and delve into its secrets.
R Plus Seven sees Lopatin take a small hop away from the tightly held structure of Replica and back to the world of broad-brush, formless compositions. His mix of rhythmic samples and ambient aesthetic stays much the same here, but the contrast is far more harsh. This is most evident in "He She," which sees sharp, punchy vocal samples falling on a far more serene backdrop. The album sees these two elements of his music slowly intertwine, till he explodes in "Still Life" with a blend of angelic sighs and uncharacteristically extroverted rave influences.
It may not be his best album when taken as a whole, but for such a monumentally well regarded musician to still hold form after a string of exceptional releases is both impressive and something we should be incredibly thankful for.
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