Review Summary: Falling asleep with the TV on - the album. An atmospheric experience not soon forgotten after listening.
Making music completely out of samples is not easy work. Source material can be low, and finding things that mold together into a completely new piece of music is a undoubtedly daunting task. This is what makes Oneohtrix Point Never's Replica that much more profound. An album crafted with something as obscure as old TV commercials can make it seem esoteric or maybe even a bit ambitious by nature. These are the very reasons why this album takes several listens to appreciate to its full capacity.
Upon first listen, I was left with two thoughts; I was confused about what I had just listened to, yet I was 100% sure I had enjoyed it enough to revisit it even though I had not enjoyed a few tracks off of the album first time through. The abstract beast of "Sleep Dealer" at first confuses and maybe even annoys some listeners, yet now it seems many people consider this one of their favorites off of the record. The song has a very clever and unique way of sampling an old gum commercial, creating a beat without any percussive instruments to be found in the song itself. Another track to let grow on you in further listens would have to be "Child Soldier", another song that could possibly annoy some to the point of not getting past the first minute.
A good question to ask would be what makes the album grow on you over time with. Subsequental listens to your first can heed the same results as the first, or you can start to hear the detail to be heard in this record's runtime. Going back to "Sleep Dealer", if you can get past the understandably off-puting "TCH" sounds and repetive sighs, you'll hear a dreamy synthscape that is reminiscent of the times the song samples from. After getting past the more frantic parts of "Child Soldier", a beautiful string section ends the song strikingly well. The record features a particularly prominent eerie feel to it, best found in the second track, "Power of Persuasion". The song has some piano samples you wouldn't be too shocked to see in a Halloween commercial, and synths that you would also predict to hear in a Boards of Canada track.
There are songs that are a little less memorable on this album, namely the three songs on the album that are undeniably the most ambient. "Remember" seems to only serve the purpose of flowing into the album's laid back title track. "Submersible" is a bright track that seems to serve as a sort of mid way point of the album, giving you time to reflect and catch your breath after the exhausting listen of "Nassau". The closing track on the album "Explain" seems to serve the purpose of a closer serving a similar purpose after the abstract and exhausting track found in "Child Soldier".
The only thing foreseeable that is holding this album back is the shear inaccessibility of it. As mentioned before, there are tracks on this record that will definitely take multiple listens to understand. Even the most seasoned listeners of experimental music might have a bit of trouble digesting this record. The album might come off as abstruse to many if not most people, but the simple fact of Replica is that you either get it or you don't. There are those of you who could listen to this album with an open mind multiple times and it would still not resonate with you, and there are some of you who would find a pleasant surprise in the soundscapes this album holds.
