Oneohtrix Point Never - Love In The Time of Lexapro

Oneohtrix Point Never!  Musical Pseudonym of Electronic artist Daniel Lopatin.  He's one of Electronic's true eccentrics and brave minds, and he's been a busy boy this year.  Already dropping one of my favorite album's of the year and two EP's, he's back for another EP.

This EP starts off with “Love In The Time Of Lexapro”, and I actually love just how shimmering and vast this intro comes off.  For years, Dan has become an absolute pro at quickly making these incredible atmospheres.  And while at first, I wasn’t really into some of these abrupt shift.  Like there are legitimate few seconds of silence here that there is nothing going on.  But it does add some tension, no matter how awkward it is.  But outside of that, there’s actually a lot of really beautiful stuff going on.  I love the heavy use of more melodic synths which we got a glimpse of on is “Good Time” soundtrack.  It’s mysterious and beautiful, and absolutely immense all at once.  And while yea, fans of Dan’s more explosive and left-field work won’t be into this, this is a great standalone tune.  Then we get a “Last Known Image Of A Song” re-imagining by Ryuichi Sakamoto.  Now, this one is so much more abstract.  Ryuichi here actually is making an already incredibly tense, disturbing tune even moreso.  It’s a simple rework, with very twisted effects and even more room for a very hulking atmosphere.  But it really gives you the impression that anything can happen at any moment.  But sadly, halfway through in a weird way this one just sort of reverts.  I get that this is a reworking.  But the second half of this song just sounds exactly like the original piece.  And that’s fine and all, it was a captivating track, to begin with.  But I did expect a little more here.  Then we have “Thank God I’m A Country Girl” which is a little interesting.  This one is easily one of the more urgent tracks I’ve heard from OPN in a long time.  We have very upfront keys, but that’s literally it.  There’s no mystery, no intrigue, and no atmosphere.  That, alongside its painful short runtime, makes this a big no in my book.  This EP ends off on an interesting note with “Babylon”, this time around featuring (Sandy) Alex G on vocals.  Now, this is a real shot out of left field.  This one has Dan recreate his “Babylon” opening from “Age Of”, and it’s a very pleasant, stripped down alternate take.  Obviously, Alex is a much better singer than Dan, so he does do this track justice.  And no, I wouldn't say there are any real Electronic elements here of any sort, not even close.  But at least with this track, I think it’s an interesting alternative to some of the material on “Age Of”, which is basically how I feel about this entire EP. 

Rating: 7.1/10

Genre: Electronic / Experimental 

Overall Thoughts: My feelings on this EP are basically the same feelings I’ve had on every other Oneohtrix Point Never EP this year.  It’s fine, it’s just fine.  But I wouldn’t say there isn’t a single track here that absolutely DEMANDS a listen.  I feel like between the three EP’s Dan has given us this year there’s a perfectly fine “Age Of” B-Sides tape.  It’s fine for OPN freaks and guys that want to just hear more and more of what he’s doing these days.  But none of this is “must listen”.