Product Review

Replica is an electronic song cycle based around audio procured from TV ad compilations. These sample-based meditations are as lyrical as they are ecological, featuring re-purposed "ghost vocals" which serve as narration for Lopatin's signature amorphous, ambient passages. Lopatin's Juno-60 is still prominent, but Returnal's placid, synthetic surroundings are accelerated through darker, more unpredictable terrains via Lopatin's use of samplers, analog filtering, tape-op, piano, plate reverb and sub-bass. The result is a heightened sense of music as part and parcel of an overall sonic terrain.