Porter Robinson
Worlds
(Astralwerks)

Worlds, the debut album from Porter Robinson, provides a vastly unique adaption to sound in the arena of EDM. The Chapel Hill, North Carolina native’s sonic technique is breathlessly utopic while remaining atmospherically bold. The opening track, “Divinity” featuring Amy Millan, begins with slicing synthesizers and a stiff yet intriguing percussive end. The emotive sensibility feels like the aftermath of the sky opening up with sunlight after a menacing storm. After the vocals are introduced, the music morphs into, well, a kind of heavenly divinity. “Flicker” has a guitar wind-up and bass riff that feels like an old Jackson 5 sample accompanied with an on and off flickering of chopped up robotic vocals. “Fresh Static Snow” exudes an airy simplistic, rhythmic delicacy with grunting keys. Shortly thereafter, the song oscillates into something like a galactic ballad. The mind-blowing beauty of “Fellow Feeling” is largely instrumental with a stunning elegance of violins and a pumping percussive breakaway into dubstep frenzy. It is clearly impressive to hear the structure and sonic craftsmanship exuded on Worlds and quite easy to see why Porter Robinson is such an acclaimed DJ and producer having been featured by the Wall Street Journal and ranked number 7 on Billboard’s list of ’21 Under 21.’