Oneohtrix Point Never

In a seeming attempt to corner the market on frequency breaching drone, Editions Mego follows bringing Emeralds into the fold with the release of Daniel Lopatin's newest brainstorm. As a jumping-on point, Returnal offers a compact overview of OPN's blend of tonal stress points versus free-floating arpeggios, the former perhaps a nod to works by eMego boss Peter Rehberg. Like the aforementioned Emeralds, OPN manages to sync vintage keyboard sounds and the more attention deficient digital commotion of the moment. One new wrinkle is the near-pop production on the title track, which is a break beat away from a dance floor iteration. Lopatin skirts the edges of many precedents, like Echospace-y ("Pelham Island Road") or classic ambient ("Ouroboros"), without ever abandoning his definitive, but inchoate, central point. You should gladly let Returnal tug you under its warm blanket of ambience.