Release date: September 29, 2023

Daniel Lopatin‘s new album released by Warp Records is a collection of connected listening memories from his near and distant past, each of which has somehow contributed to the formation of his musical world. Reviewing Lopatin’s previous works, now numbering ten full albums, reveals a diversity of genres, as he has repeatedly used the sound or structural elements of these styles in his compositions in different ways. From classical orchestral to progressive rock and grunge, and of course, the ’90s synthwave that is not limited to long pieces of music and may include a TV show theme or a short radio ad that Daniel heard as a teenager, these influences have left a lasting mark on the listening memory of this 42-year-old composer.

Nostalgia has always been a constant in OPN’s works and has an intertwined and meaningful relationship with a major part of his career. From the bold footprint he left on the path to the flourishing of vaporwave, to millennials on the Internet mentioning him as the leader and pioneer of this style, to the preparation of the “Dawn FM” album by The Weeknd, which is essentially tied to nostalgia and borrows from the aesthetics of previous decades. Daniel’s expertise in working with synth-sequencers and DAWs, the design of abstract sound collages, and the avant-garde structure that he has always adhered to are among the most important features of his music.

The orchestral opening of Elseware is one of the few tracks that follows a specific idea from beginning to end. A piece written for strings and conducted by Robert Ames. Thanks to working with Johnny Greenwood on two film projects, Ames is familiar with the hyperactive structure of the minds of composers like this, and here too he was able to perform Lopatin’s ear-pleasing harmonies.

The track with the same name as the album, “Again,” is full of synthy ups and downs with a familiar retro-futuristic and dystopian atmosphere, which OPN excelled in creating. But more than it can be referred to as an independent piece, it represents the composer aspect of Daniel’s film work and is reminiscent of the soundtrack of Good Time. “The World Outside” track seems to be a remake or sequel to the “Inside World” track. Here, the artist has sampled his brilliant piece from the “R Plus Seven” album, and after saturating it with reverb and continuous pitch-shift, he accompanies it with a pounding rhythm and strengthens the human dimension of the work with a melodic but still ambient vocal.

Krumville’s soothing opening, with its haunting acoustic loop and dreamy ambience, creates one of the album’s better moments. The presence of the well-known experimental rock scene name, Xiu Xiu, is felt here, and even though the second half of the track resembles a cut of late indie pop, it is still an acceptable collaboration.

Locrian Midwest is one of the more structured pieces of the album, which has a special arrangement and, as it moves in different directions, it awakens a wide range of emotions in the audience.

After the array of staccato notes, stadium drum kicks, and pure arrhythmia of “Plastic Antique,” which, of course, ends with waves of THX-like OPN sound effects, we enter the poetic chorus of “Gray Subviolet,” a chorus that is exclusive to string instruments. Despite Daniel’s insistence on denying it, the concept of time is one of the longest pieces of the album. The magnificent composition of this piece, which is based on the piano, helps to direct the orchestral instruments as well as possible, and in addition to its beauty, it also adds more depth to the album.

One of the most psychedelic moments of the album is “The Body Trail,” which begins with the intersection and repetition of incomprehensible and artificial intelligence-like vocals and continues to benefit from both neo-classical elegance and the depth of electronic-ambient. This time, the confrontation of thematic ideas such as humanity and technology or past and future has become the theme of the piece.

The song “Nightmare Paint” has a more harmonious structure thanks to its full drum and percussion rhythm, but it evokes a much darker atmosphere than the other songs.

Perhaps the best option to represent this album and the initial idea of its formation is the track “Memories of Music,” which is an assemblage of all the styles and sounds created by Lopatin over the years. Six minutes full of emotional ups and downs caused by remembering and reliving the childhood and teenage memories of the composer and, of course, the listeners of his generation and period. Scattered pieces of memories whose soundtrack is the progressive rock of the ’70s, jazz-fusion of the ’80s, and futuristic synth-pop of the ’90s.

Since OPN is very interested in surprising the audience in the process of listening to a piece, there are many shifts between these memories, and it suddenly reaches its peak with a distorted guitar solo.

After we hit vaporwave with “On An Axis,” we reach “Ubiquity Road.” A floating ambience, left over from the days of hanging out with Fennesz, consists of interwoven layers of synth-pads and wind instruments, where we experience absolute weightlessness.

In the last track of the album, “A Barely Lit Path,” we are once again referred to the previous works of the artist. This time we are dealing with a structure similar to the “Boring Angel” piece. If the piece relies on Daniel’s voice, it has a sudden and impressive beginning, but before it can play a decisive role, it is taken out of the way and gives its place to the extended notes of the church organ and the arpeggio notes of the synth.

Maybe it doesn’t reach “R Plus Seven”‘s rarity, or it’s far from the singular aesthetic structure of “Garden of Delete.” Of course, there is no sign of Magic OPN’s pop anthems either. But there are definitely similarities that we will mention below. The main factors that make “Again” different from the mentioned albums are Lopatin’s refusal to create an independent world, avoiding strange and overly abstract atmospheres, or avoiding extreme minimalist arpeggios that came from the world of Steve Reich and appeared in his works. This approach has allowed the artist to expand and move in different directions.