Last year’s haunting Returnal elevated Oneohtrix Point Never mastermind Daniel Lopatin from relative obscurity to a place of great notoriety within the world of underground electronic music. His previous release, Rifts, had earned him a cult following and respect among ambient/drone enthusiasts, but his 2010 offering allowed him to transcend the confines of a relatively insular genre, earning him a place alongside Tim Hecker and Emeralds’ Mark McGuire within a broader public consciousness. The album was a dynamic and, at times, harsh collection of drones, textures and melodies, produced using a variety of vintage synthesizers. In interviews that came out around the time of the album’s release, Lopatin revealed himself to be a thoughtful and deliberate artist, fascinated by science fiction, mysticism and the relationship between consumerism and art.

Oneohtrix has returned with Replica, a highly anticipated album that, as its title suggests, continues to explore these themes, albeit in new contexts. Listeners familiar with Lopatin’s work will immediately recognize the eerie drones and distorted whispers, but Replica is also full of tribal percussive elements, glitchy textures and sometimes-cheesy vocal samples. Tracks like “Sleep Dealer” and “Nassau” recall the tribal electronics of Lucky Dragons, and “Up” sounds like a rejected Animal Collective cut. The shift brings to mind White Rainbow’s Adam Forkner, the one-time West Coast ambient guru who has spent the last few years recording positive vibe music in colourful, psychedelic huts. “Power of Persuasion,” however, is a classically disquieting Oneohtrix song, and sounds like it could have been featured in a particularly frightening X-Files episode. The title track sounds like a piano recital aboard an alien spacecraft, and proves that Lopatin’s music is most effective when it remains subtle and mysterious.