Jon Hopkins has announced a new album, RITUAL, which will be out August 30 via Domino. “It is a 41-minute ceremonial piece,” Jon Says, “and was the most joyful and collaborative experience I’ve ever had making an album. It feels like a kinetic counterpart to Music For Psychedelic Therapy.”
“I have no idea what I’m doing when I’m composing. I donʼt know where itʼs coming from, and I don’t know where it’s going, nor does it seem to matter,” says Hopkins. “I just know when it is finished. So all I can really do is feel my way to the end, then try and retrospectively analyze what might be going on, and try and figure out what its purpose is. What is clear is that this one has the structure of a Ritual. I know what that Ritual is for me, but it will be something different for you. It feels important not to be prescriptive about what this Ritual actually is.”
Hopkins adds, “It feels like a tool, maybe even a machine, for opening portals within your inner world, for unlocking things that are hidden and buried. Things that are held in place by the tension in your body. It doesnʼt feel like ʻan albumʼ therefore – more a process to go through, something that works on you. At the same time, it feels like it tells a story. Maybe it’s the story of a process Iʼm going through, and one that we are all going through. Maybe itʼs also the story of creation, destruction and transcendence. Maybe itʼs the story of the archetypal heroʼs journey – the journey of forgetting and remembering.”
You can listen to “RITUAL (evocation),” the fifth chapter of the album, which is all heaving throbs of synths and pounding tribal drums. It’s methodical and sounds loud even with the volume set to 1. Watch the video below.
Jon Hopkins has a few UK live dates in July and August, including the Green Man Festival. All dates are listed below.
RITUAL
1. part i – altar
2. part ii – palace / illusion
3. part iii – transcend / lament
4. part iv – the veil
5. part v – evocation
6. part vi – solar goddess return 7. part vii – dissolution
8. part viii – nothing is lost
John Hopkins – 2024Tour Dates
Thu. July 25 – Brighton, UK @ The Corn Exchange
Fri. July 26 – Bristol, UK @ Bristol Beacon
Sat. July 27 – London, UK @ Junction 2 Festival
Sat. Aug. 16 – Bristol Beacons, UK @ Green Man Festival