There’s rarely time these days to sit down and really listen to an album beginning to end, but that’s what Jon Hopkins wants you to do with Singularity, and if you can afford the just-over-an-hour-long runtime then you’ll get so much more out of this record than you thought possible.
This time, on album five, the electronica mastermind wants you to have a blissful psychedelic experience, and he’s here to guide you through from beginning to end. Though ‘Singularity”s 62-minutes can get extremely heavy ... it’s still a near-perfect trip, and one that confirms Hopkins’ status as one of the genre’s brightest talents.
There’s no prescribed narrative, but Singularity still tells a grand story—a synesthetic evocation of how it feels to be alive.
Transformation is what it’s all about – this is a healing trip of sorts, inspired by Hopkins own spiritual journeys over the last few years.
Singularity is the follow up every fan would hope for. It's larger; it's denser; it's quicker. It’s a 63-minute microhouse masterpiece. It rebroadcasts Hopkins’ sound as a more atmospheric, clearer vision. Whether its an improvement upon Immunity isn’t important — it’s a definite refinement.
Building on the innovations of previous album Immunity, it invests more emotionally and retains the primal physical stimulus behind Hopkins’ best music. He remains a wholly individual voice in a congested field, a single phrase played from his piano speaking volumes. And Singularity is his best album yet.
As striking as Immunity was, Singularity feels more developed, and it's ultimately a tough call as to which album is more exciting.
Tracks not so much begin but are spawned and gradually evolve, sometimes from glitchy textures to something more celestial, and then the reverse, where heavenly textures are enveloped by awkward tectonics as pulsing beats and juddering synth jabs lean heavily on an abrasive melee.
Singularity continues in the vein of Immunity, though its depth of feeling is greater, and rhythmic power more potent.
With Singularity, Jon Hopkins stakes a claim to being one of the most impactful and important EDM producers in his field, let alone one of the best of the year. This is an album that cannot help but impress.
Singularity is rich enough to let your mind wander through it.
Structural concerns aside, Singularity still finds Hopkins exploring sonic textures as deeply as ever. It's an album that, in its best moments, finds one of electronic music's great minds operating in peak form.
If Brian Eno’s 1977 release Before and After Science saw humanity dwindle with the onset of robots (or perhaps become them), Singularity sees a new consciousness, a sort of rebellious reorienting of the psychedelic movement.
Singularity is an album that will remain in the memory long after the final note is played and will demand repeated listens.
Hopkins weaves a thematic consciousness throughout each song on Singularity and, rather astonishingly, manages to intensify the listening experience to evoke the euphoria and vivid awareness of a psychedelic experience.
Ultimately, Singularity will shape your summer of 2018 the same way Immunity did of 2013, and all power to it.
The dance tracks are massive. The emotions come full bore. The textures and depths of field are incredible. But even within Singularity's grand scope, the drama is occasionally overdone.
Singularity may not be a huge departure from the sound that we’ve previously heard from Hopkins, but this record is a masterclass in musical sonics - a reminder that music should be absorbed, not left to simply pass us by.
Singularity is the satisfying sound of an artist who – instead of petering out after a couple of early victories – is still perfecting his craft nearly two decades after he started.
Singularity successfully reaches for the stars for a good part of its runtime.
Singularity, as an experience, goes through such a vast range of life, and the beauty is in the seamlessly graceful transition through it all.
It’s a beautiful piece when listened as a whole, but one that loses its power when taken in parts. Nothing particularly lends itself to monstrous dancefloor destruction.
Listen to this album with headphones at night when the sky is full of stars. Congrast you are flying in space now
This is better than Immunity imo
When I first heard it, I was disappointed… I’d loved Immunity so much that I had different expectations
But when I came back to it and listened to it for what it was (& not what I wanted it to be) I found it to be beautiful & its own star in the galaxy of JH’s making
A really unique and interesting soundscape. At points this album feels like a wonderful mix of ambient and house. But sometimes it feels a little boring and like it doesn’t know what it wants to do. But overall, I found myself really digging the overall vibe of this album
1 | Singularity 6:29 | 84 |
2 | Emerald Rush 5:36 | 89 |
3 | Neon Pattern Drum 6:07 | 77 |
4 | Everything Connected 10:30 | 81 |
5 | Feel First Life 5:33 | 77 |
6 | C O S M 7:08 | 78 |
7 | Echo Dissolve 3:21 | 70 |
8 | Luminous Beings 11:51 | 84 |
9 | Recovery 5:35 | 75 |
#1 | / | Gaffa (Sweden) |
#4 | / | MondoSonoro |
#5 | / | Mixmag |
#9 | / | Fopp |
#10 | / | OOR |
#11 | / | Double J |
#12 | / | The A.V. Club |
#15 | / | Pretty Much Amazing |
#16 | / | Pitchfork |
#17 | / | Earbuddy |