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The cover art for Returnal was photographed by Yelena Avanesova and designed by Stephen O'Malley. So I'm painting these pictures, not of the actual world, but of us watching that world." Lopatin explained the imagined scenario behind the album's opening track "Nil Admirari": "the mom's sucked into CNN, freaking out about Code Orange terrorist shit, while the kid is in the other room playing Halo 3, inside that weird Mars environment, killing some James Cameron–type predator." But make it hyperreal, refracted through not really being in touch with the world. So I was drawn to that, that's kind of a vibe." He further explained to critic Simon Reynolds, "I wanted to make a world-music record. They're very interesting, they're not one-to-one depictions of nature, explicitly because he didn't really like or appreciate nature. Lopatin described Returnal as a " Rousseau record", saying, "He's a French painter during this exoticism period. Instruments including the Akai AX60, the Roland Juno-60, the Roland MSQ-700 and the Korg Electribe ES-1 as well as voice parts by Lopatin are present throughout the album, although the Roland SP-555 and Sherman Filterbank were also used in the development process. The album's first song was recorded in Brooklyn. Most of the material was produced in an air-conditioned room at his parents' house in Massachusetts (credited as "Ridge Valley Digital") from July to August 2009.
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Returnal was recorded and mixed by Lopatin using the programs Goldwave and Multiquence.
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The album received positive reviews from critics, and was named among the best albums of 2010 by several publications, including Fact, The Wire, and Tiny Mix Tapes. It develops the synthesizer-based compositions of Lopatin's previous work, while also incorporating elements of noise music and his own processed vocals.
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Returnal is the fourth studio album by American electronic musician Daniel Lopatin under the alias Oneohtrix Point Never, released on Jby Mego Records.
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