Jon Hopkins confirms new album RITUAL for August 30th
Shares video for “RITUAL (evocation)” watch here
Special early album listening event in spatial audio at London’s ICA next month
Headlining Junction 2 & Green Man festivals this summer
By turns devotional, empowering and nurturing, Jon Hopkins’ forthcoming new album RITUAL is a 41-minute ceremonial epic built from cavernous subs, hypnotic drumming and transcendent melodic interplay. Tense, immersive and ultimately triumphant, it is a culmination of themes explored throughout his 22-year career, and acts as the kinetic counterpart to 2021’s Music For Psychedelic Therapy.
A single piece unfolding over eight chapters, RITUAL is personified by depth and contrast. Taking ceremony, spiritual liberation and the hero’s journey as inspiration, it taps into an ancient and primal energy and will be released on August 30th via Domino.
Talking about RITUAL, Hopkins explains: “I have no idea what I’m doing when I’m composing. I don’t know where it’s coming from, and I don’t know where it’s going, nor does it seem to matter. I just know when it is finished. So all I can really do is feel my way to the end, then try and retrospectively analyse 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.
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 doesn’t feel like “an album” 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 I’m going through, and one that we are all going through. Maybe it’s also the story of creation, destruction and transcendence. Maybe it’s the story of the archetypal hero’s journey – the journey of forgetting and remembering.”
Today, Hopkins shares a preview of the album in “RITUAL (evocation)”. This first single is defined by deep, hypnotic drums and a long build to epiphanic light. Designed to give listeners a window into the full experience, it centres around a huge, almost impossibly intense ascension, leading us through a storm of dissonance into a sparkling of wild arpeggios, and finally the appearance of a clear and soaring vocal.
The breathtaking video for “RITUAL (evocation)” is delivered by Dave Bullivant in collaboration with Hopkins and stars aerial rope performer Bryony Louise Fowler who mirrors the track’s emotions in a spellbinding display.
Featuring long-term collaborators Vylana, 7RAYS, Ishq, Clark, Emma Smith, Daisy Vatalaro and Cherif Hashizume, RITUAL came together within the second half of 2023, but initial seeds were sown in 2022, when Hopkins was commissioned to compose for the Dreamachine* immersive experience in London created by Collective Act, in collaboration with a team of artists, scientists and philosophers. A project that felt ceremonial from the outset, this shorter piece was the embryo of RITUAL, with Hopkins gaining inspiration from the feeling of intention that is inherent in the Dreamachine space.
RITUAL is both emotionally and sonically heavy, whilst retaining a warm, live feel, where the juxtaposition between softness and intensity forms the core of the whole. So take time, prepare and immerse in RITUAL for 41 minutes of uninterrupted listening: sonic divination of the most potent form.
RITUAL will be premiered in spatial audio at London’s ICA on Sunday 12th May giving fans an early opportunity to engage with this special album. Pre-ordering the album will give pre-sale access for ticket.
A further listening event will take place at Glastonbury Festival on their Ambient stage. Jon Hopkins will headline London’s Junction 2 and Green Man festivals this summer alongside shows at Bristol Beacon and Brighton’s Corn Exchange.
* RITUAL was born out of a piece of music composed for a project called Dreamachine. Dreamachine was originally conceived through a research and development project, and presented by Collective Act, as part of Unboxed: Creativity in the UK. Designed to celebrate creativity and innovation, the project was funded by the UK Government with support from EventScotland and the Scottish Government, Creative Wales and the Welsh Government, and Belfast City Council and the Northern Ireland Executive.
Tracklisting:
- part i – altar
- part ii – palace / illusion
- part iii – transcend / lament
- part iv – the veil
- part v – evocation
- part vi – solar goddess return
- part vii – dissolution
- part viii – nothing is lost
