R Plus Seven is Daniel Lopatin’s first Oneohtrix Point Never album on Warp, pushing the sampledelic textures previously teased on Replica into total overdrive. Lopatin covers an astonishing amount of ground inside a 5 minute song, leaping from goa trance arpeggios to MIDI kalimba, new age pads, Microsoft piano solos and synthetic choirs with catlike agility. The sardine tin hodgepodge of tracks like “Americans” and “Problem Areas” are a total counterpoint to the 12-min Juno drones that typified his early work. At a glance, R Plus Seven resembles vaporwave and its co-opting of early Internet aesthetics, but Lopatin’s HD sound design couldn’t be any further from the lo-fi gruel of something like Floral Shoppe. Repeat listens reveal a remarkable ability to conjure real substance out of the pastiche… On album centerpiece “Along,” a strategic peppering of FM synth pads and cuckoo clock stabs to an otherwise unhurried and uneventful bassline transforms it with a terrible urgency. “Still Life” is incredibly heavy, and the gigantic choruses that come crashing through the dainty passages of sample collage are brutal and suffocating, but oddly gratifying. Other highlights include “Zebra,” “Cryo” and hopeful closing track “Chrome Country.” Double vinyl pressing with download code, recommended.

• double vinyl pressing
• gatefold sleeve 
• album design by Robert Beatty
• cover painting by Georges Schwizgebel
• digital download included
• music label: Warp Records 2013

reviewed by carparts, bottles & cutlery 07/2018