Oneohtrix Point Never - Magic Oneohtrix Point Never ALBUM REVIEW

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Daniel Lopatin has gone by many names throughout his career. Chuck Person, Dania Sharpes, KGB Man, and his most famous persona, Oneohtrix Point Never. The last time he put out music under the 0PN name was in 2018, with his James Blake-assisted Age Of. Between then and now, he’s produced multiple tracks on The Weeknd’s latest project After Hours and wrote the original score for the Adam Sandler film Uncut Gems under his real name. Back under the Oneohtrix Point Never name, he’s back to studio album capacity in Magic Oneohtrix Point Never. He’s going back to his more sampled-based roots, and taking his new friends Caroline Polachek and The Weeknd with him. I was pretty excited for this project, so let’s not waste any more time and talk about Magic Oneohtrix Point Never.

Magic Oneohtrix Point Never is an electronic album with synthpop, plunderphonics, and vaporwave vibes. For those that didn’t know, the ‘Oneohtrix Point Never’ came from Lopatin mishearing the FM station 106.7, which is a pretty fun tidbit. This plays into the loose concept of a radio station that’s throughout the album, and it’s a fun little escapade through the timeline of radio. Among Lopatin’s other releases, this is his most accessible album, in an odd way. There’s this whole ethereal and space-like vibe to the whole project, but with such a huge name like The Weeknd taking the vocals on one of the songs, “No Nightmares,” and even having an executive producer credit on the album as a whole, it’s a good eye-opener for a new audience for OPN. The whole album has this 80s synthpop vibe without being pop music at all, and it’s very unique. I guess Magic falters with its song structures. Many tracks, “The Whether Channel” being the biggest example, feel dragged on for way too long to be enjoyable. This song didn’t have to be six minutes, and it really took me out of the album. I would’ve liked some of the songs to be at least a little bit shorter so the album could just flow better, you know? For each positive thing about it, there’s a slightly negative thing about it. Luckily, the positives outweigh the negatives because tracks like “Long Road Home” with Caroline Polachek and “Imago” have this strange, futuristic vibe, unlike anything I’ve heard this year.

I’m pretty confident in saying that Magic Oneohtrix Point Never is one of my favorite OPN projects in recent memory. I don’t think this is his best project, but this is a great gateway into Daniel Lopatin’s sound and discography, which there is a lot of. This is probably my favorite electronic album this year so far.


7/10


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