Porter Robinson Returns With Long-Awaited LP ‘Nurture’
8/10
Coming into the scene at 18, North Carolina producer Porter Robinson made an early start to his career, eventually leading to major club-ready hits such as “Language” and “Say My Name”. His popularity in the genre did not line up with his creative intensions however, and felt pressured to create EDM festival-geared music rather than expansive and complex electronic music. His 2014 debut Worlds embodied his appreciation for anime and Japanese culture, but was one of the last projects under his own name before releasing music closer to his tastes as Virtual Self.
Following battles with creative drought, anxiety, and depression, the prodigy returns with his sophomore full-length Nurture, his first release in seven years under his own name.
His early obsession with video games and anime came out on his 2014 debut Worlds, and the colourful, electronic keyboard sounds and glitchy android-voice layers have matured into flourishing details on Nurture. He’s let his abilities as a songwriting take over, pushing the songs into pools of giant and lush future house choruses that pulsate with an indescribable optimism. His desire to push the genre and create striking melodies with complex fills that are more than just gateways to huge, pyrotechnic drops creates a new universe within his music. The heavily altered vocals and airy production qualities evokes a sense of nostalgia while also venturing into the future from some long off galaxy.
He packs in his previously released singles “Look at the Sky” and “Get Your Wish” early into the 14 track collection, perhaps as a way to encourage a more intimate listening experience without the anticipation of a “big hit” down the line. Nevertheless, the remaining track list holds a sense of unpredictability; one moment you’re sitting in a lush cloud of Vocaloid melodies and swelling bass notes, and the next computer sounds glitch in time with melodic results and then again to an Animal Crossing style guitar melody before returning to an ethereal explosion of vibrations and melody. His previous years of unrest and stress seem to be lightyears away as he floods his new album with melancholy, warmth, and unabashed creativity.
Touching on the one hour mark, Nurture‘s length is due in part to its initial release date being pushed back in 2020 due to COVID, and then Robinson making the decision to add more tracks to the list. That decision, along with his diverse style on the record is very much Robinson doing whatever he wants. Fortunately, it is what true fans will enjoy and have been waiting for seven years later.
And as the album cover make suggest, rather than tripping out at a major EDM festival, his new album finds its footing in an open field, face-planted into some flowers.
Notable tracks: “Look at the Sky” // “Get Your Wish” // “Unfold”
