Ritual

Jon Hopkins is back  with a new album at the end of the month, a forty one minute long electronic symphony called Ritual, divided into eight parts. His ambient/ meditation/ found sound double album, Music For Psychedelic Therapy, was a highlight of 2021 for me and this feels like the flipside, a physical counterpoint- noise and rhythms, layers of synth, sub- bass and thumping drums. 

This is Ritual (Palace), the second piece on the album, six minutes of light, sweet, gently building electronic music, music that makes you feel like you're connected to something bigger- an ongoing theme in Hopkins' music (see also Everything's Connected for one). 

Sequenced later on is Ritual (Evocation), something much more intense and visceral, the physical tension palpable and engulfing, waves of sound building, threatening to collapse but never quite breaking until well past the five and a half minute mark. 

The album is available in all the usual places including Bandcamp. The use of the word journey to describe electronic music is an overused one but in Ritual's case it feels very appropriate.