Release Date: Apr 23, 2021
Genre(s): Electronic
Record label: Mom + Pop Music
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This is the sound of a hard-won victory in a war he waged against himself after six years of rebuilding himself from the ruins of fame found too early. Collecting the fragments of an identity shattered, Nurture sees Porter Robinson putting the pieces back together, revealing an entirely new reflection. Plucked from obscurity at eighteen, the electronic supernovas he crafted in his bedroom became the soundtrack for the early 2010's dizzying hedonism.
Ever since those heady days of 2012, when Atlanta native Porter Robinson first broke through with the hit single Language, he has always displayed a talent for shiny synths and heavy beats. The sound has developed, become in some ways more poppy and in other ways more indie, but these underlying facets remain. Processed vocals are a huge presence on Nurture, and the record is infused with a songwriting sensibility that's cutesy but massively endearing.
Porter Robinson's music has often treasured escapism. Whether making ecstatic dance or cinematic pop, the producer has long imagined his work as a portal to other realms, as if, through enough head-spinning drops and intricate synth programming, he could create a better world. His debut full-length album, 2014's Worlds, was explicitly about the transportive power of fiction, the way that art can take us into an "imaginary universe." And in the video for his Madeon collaboration "Shelter," a father creates a bright, beautiful simulation for his daughter to live in while the real world around her crumbles and burns.
After a seven-year hiatus, songwriter and producer Porter Robinson has returned with his highly anticipated second album. 'Nurture' arrives after a difficult period for Robinson, sonically documenting the anxiety related to the pressures of success, as well as his brother's diagnosis with a rare and aggressive cancer. The Grammy-winning artist's return experiments with piano, digital synths, and artificially pitched vocals.
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