This is an album that, to paraphrase Jon Hopkins, just came about without intellectual process. While I doubt that somewhat—Hopkins is a masterful audio engineer and a great composer, and those qualities aren't solely attained as gifts from above/below—this is both a psychedelic and very warming album, at least to myself. There are a lot of analogue feel to the album.
This music reminds me of the most sacral and ambient music made by the wonderful Popol Vuh. Also, I find this album to be a great step from Hopkins's last album, Music for Psychedelic Therapy.
Anecdotally it seems this record isn't getting the great reviews that people were expecting but I'm just mesmerized by how well crafted it is, the tracks flow into one another seamlessly and the atmosphere evolves slowly over the course of the whole album. Truly a dreamlike experience
This was highly anticipated on my lists as days before its release, Jon Hopkins dropped a masterful “Early Mornings” mix for Apple Music, featuring a range of genres that I assumed would be a teaser to the influences for this album. At moments It was almost reminiscent of Immunity.
That turned out not the be the case. This is entirely different: a deep and meditative soundscape more akin to a hero’s journey through a dystopian future than any kind of club tracks.
I think that it requires a listen; and it requires you to sit and give it your full attention. You wind up drifting off in thought at times, especially as the album drives home basically only one… More