Last weekend I was fortunate enough to see a live performance by Daniel Lopatin aka Oneohtrix Point Never at the Edinburgh Fringe.
I first heard OPN through his album replica and since then I have gone back and listened to most of his work. The main reason I’m so intrigued by his music is I find it very hard to work out where he gets his influences. It seems to come out of experiences and interests that are so foreign to me I struggle to comprehend how they are created.
Watching him perform Magnetic Rose and Bullet Hell Abstraction IV gave me a bit more of an understanding of his thought process. Over 90 minutes I was treated to some beautiful lush soundscapes that encapsulated the accompanying video in thought provoking and haunting ways. This was especially the case for Magnetic Rose where Daniel Lopatin creates an alternate soundtrack to the anime of the same name by director Koji Morimoto.
This Soundtrack mixed with some of the films own audio managed to portray a vision that was somewhere between a dream and a nightmare. Moments of Beauty and Horror were blended together in a way that both shocked and comforted the system. It was a staggering barrage on the senses and has left my mind with even more questions to process about his work than I had before this weekend.
The Music of OPN may be a puzzle I will never solve but I will enjoy attempting to for as long as he makes it.