Compact Disc (CD), 2 x Vinyl LP
The work of electronic producer Jon Hopkins is designed for full immersion. His 2013 album, Immunity, was a majestic, sensual, heart-thumping epic designed to replicate the experience of an intense night out on the town. On songs like “Open Eye Signal,” which sports a bassline that buries itself into the chest, it’s easy to visualize the neon lights and feel the body high. Hopkins excels at creating atmosphere, and Immunity captures the elation that arrives at the peak of the night.
If Immunity is the party, its follow-up, Singularity, explores the conflict between bustling city life and the desire for escape. The album opens with the title track, which feels like it expands outward in space; Hopkins uses silences and sparse synths to signal the birth of a new sonic world. Like most of the album’s first half, the song gradually picks up steam, finishing with intense rhythms that are built for the dancefloor. Singularity is shot through with a feeling of fragmentation; songs like “Neon Pattern Drum” and “Everything Connected” feature tape fuzz and deep, rugged glitches, but they’re underscored by billowing synth melodies that are, in turn, overpowered by hard drums. Tracks like “Echo Dissolve” and album closer “Recovery” are almost acoustic, with echoing classical piano parts that create a sense of sadness and longing; “Luminous Beings” combines clanging industrial soundscapes and soaring synths.
Singularity is a mind-bending trip, swinging from deep introspection to discovery, from weariness to hopefulness. It’s a record full of surprising symphonic moments, some so small that they’re hard to catch on the first listen, and some so astounding it’s hard not to be overcome by their beauty. Much like Immunity, Singularity is majestic in its execution. Hopkins has created a soundscape for meditation, for reflection on modern dystopia and for imagining a world where we can reconnect to nature and—on a deep, genuine level—with humanity.
