JON HOPKINS Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Since making a visit to Tayos Caves in Ecuador in 2018, Jon Hopkins has become progressively more interested in the potential of psychedelic therapy, and the ceremonies that accompany psychedelic trips in some cultures. Music For Psychedelic Therapy, his latest album, was partly designed as a soundtrack to such rituals and therapeutic sessions. Musically, it combines elements of ambient, drone and neo-classical, with each of the nine tracks remaining resolutely drum-free. It's an undeniably trippy but meditative affair that strikes a good balance between becalmed bliss and colourful aural intoxication.

Review: Seven years after he gave us the spectacularly beautiful Asleep Versions, Jon Hopkins presents four minimal piano stunners to help us return to those half-awake moments of absolute bliss. The bit before the dark in the back of your eyes turns red and you realise it's going to be another 12 hours or so before you're climbing back into the sack and returning to a place where, let's face it, most of us are pretty happy.

In terms of the music itself, this is Hopkins and therefore you know the score in terms of vision. Opening on the tranquility of 'Heron', which sounds as though it was recorded by a lakeside in southern England complete with wildlife on tape, from here things only get more intoxicating, until the delicate pitter pattered notes of 'Wintergreen' close us out on a subtle but moving air.

Review: Jon Hopkins has released a number of very fine albums over the years, though few quite as good as 2009's Insides. Rooted in his particular brand of atmospheric, melody-driven electronica but more ambitious than anything the producer had previously released, Insides' ten tracks effortlessly combine neo-classical instrumentation and tactile electronic melodies with bold and beautiful nods towards dubstep, '90s trip-hop, vintage IDM, music concrete, grizzly late noughties UK bass, and the shimmering, shoegaze-inspired electronica of Ulrich Schnauss (see the superb 'Light Through The Veins', arguably the album's stand out moment). There are occasional surprising, eyebrow-raising musical moments that switch focus or alter the flow of the album, but they never feel jarring or out of place.