Oneohtrix Point Never – Garden of Delete

Abrasive and Melodic

Garden of Delete is Oneohtrix Point Never’s seventh album, and the time has allowed Daniel Lopatin to mature. Garden of Delete pushes a bit further than albums in the past and further explores the abstract. The overall feel of the album is something a bit darker, which gets pushed along by the shorter breaks, in particular, “SDFK.” Dropped throughout, though, are moments of something lighter and more melodic.

“Ezra,” the intro and the main character for this album, begins with a choppy and yet melodic line. It has a contrasting beauty quality about it that will be found throughout the rest of the album. “Sticky Drama” keeps up this dichotomy with its light and delicate intro but adds on layers to build up the heaviness. By the second half of the song, there is a definite distinction between that early delicateness and the much harsher industrial. “Child of Rage” provides a break in some of the coarser sounds of the album with its more ethereal sound. “No Good” ends the album with some of the brightest sounding guitar riffs though still interwoven are the industrial sounds found earlier on the album.

It is these balances that make Garden of Delete a powerful album. It is a creative, well-executed union of EDM and moments of death metal, but breaks further out of the mold with the lighter beats and melodies; a collaboration of the abrasive and the melodic. The further along into the album the brighter the songs become, showing there is a definite story arc to follow from those earlier moments of darkness. Having Ezra as the main character following along with this album shows a story of change and transformation, a textured creature with various facets of being. Garden of Delete in itself becomes a part of a similar journey as really full development for Oneohtrix Point Never.