Oneohtrix Point Never – Replica

Billed as “an electronic song cycle based around lo-fi audio procured from television advertisement compilations,” Replica plays out like an awkward marriage between the kind of sample-based experiments that filled out 2009’s Memory Vague DVD and the evocative soundscapes that have become the artist’s trademark.

When Lopatin foregrounds his gorgeous synth work (as on opener, Andro) the results are hypnotising, but when his jarringly workmanlike sample manipulation dominates the mix it honestly feels like Lopatin is barking up the wrong tree, especially given the fact that operators like Actress and VHS Head have already covered similar terrain with infinitely more finesse.

When he dials back the glitch and lets his samples breathe, as on the album’s title track, the overall effect is much more compelling, but such moments are few and far between on on album that too often feels like a frustratingly unsophisticated collage of unsympathetic elements.