Porter Robinson’s new album, “Worlds,” breaks down EDM boarders and sets a new precedent for the versatility that is required to be successful in the ever changing Electronic Dance Music scene.
It appears that the 22 year old’s, basey, eardrum blasting and dubstep filled days are behind him. He follows up on his first EP “Spitfire,” which was released in early 2011, with a brilliantly orchestrated first full-length album. Robinson has made a deliberate shift away from his former career-defining sounds as he leaves behind his long adored bass-dropping identity, using Worlds as an opportunity to redefine himself as an artist, songwriter and music producer.
Robinson did this with the understanding that he may lose and frustrate some of his fans, but for Robinson, “Worlds” means something deeper than mainstream success: it’s him showing his true self.
“Worlds” turns toward a gentler electronic stratosphere which includes the likes of well-known talents like M83, Passion Pit and MGMT. Immediately, Robinson’s aim of complete reinvention is understood. Whether he succeeded in reinventing himself is a discussion to be had, but after listening through the 12 track, 57-minute album over and over, my opinion remains strong. He did it.
The standard bass drops and predictable build-ups in most mainstream EDM tracks nowadays are nowhere to be found, which for me separates him from the mainstream electronic music scene.
With big names in the EDM world like Avicii, David Guetta and Calvin Harris slowly adopting this new ideal of electronic music, Robinson turns away from it creating something truly special in the process.
The focus of this album was not to make 12 tracks that each go to the top of the charts because they contain a standard pop beat with generic lyrics, build ups and drops. His focus was to redefine himself as an artist and in the process move into a new genre of music.
His idea of beginning an EDM renaissance of sorts is ambitious but his execution in doing so blew by most expectations. The first two singles he released from Worlds, “Sad Machine” and “Lionhearted” both excited fans and left them wondering as to what happened to the bass mastery that they had experienced in “Spitfire.” It’s disappeared, but for the better.
The hit single, “Sad Machine” was the first step that Robinson took in drastically changing his sound in Worlds. The song features Robinson making his vocal debut singing a duet with Vocaloid, a synth that recreates human singing into the voice of a robot girl, strange maybe, but effective.
He follows this chart topper with, “Lionhearted” which effectively demonstrates Robinson’s grasp of his newfound frontiers. In the track he collaborates with Swedish indie-pop artist Urban Cone, together they create the most dance-sounding song on the album.
Despite his clear step away from songs top heavy with bass and fast paced dubstep drops, “Lionhearted” silences critics of his new arsenal of high and lows with a quick paced, crowd favorite EDM single.
As a whole album “Worlds” is able to both perform and deliver, its huge, ambitious interconnected and even comes with its own light show (i.e. Robinson’s current countrywide tour). The world that “Worlds” invokes fantastic and unmistakably radiant by design, is displayed by the chorus of voices in the flowing “Hear the Bells,” the static genius of “Divinity,” the intimacy of “Sad Machine” and the animated dance beats of “Lionheated”.
If you listen to this album from start to finish, by the time you get to the majestic violins in, “Fellow Feeling” that slowly develop into interweaving bass blasts you’ll have your mind made up on whether or not you appreciate Robinson’s new border breaking record.
If you do, and you make it to Robinson’s finale, “Goodbye To a World,” a song whose fitting melodies leave the audience with a vague sense of undergoing a journey filled with wonder, it will be pretty hard to deny that the 22 year old has done something amazing.