Jon Hopkins - Singularity
Critic Score
Based on 34 reviews
2018 Ratings: #76 / 890
Year End Rank: #35
User Score
Based on 735 ratings
2018 Rank: #139
Liked by 42 people
May 4, 2018 / Release Date
LP / Format
Domino / Label
Sign In to rate and review

CRITIC REVIEWS

100
The Skinny

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.

100
NME

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.

100
A.V. Club

There’s no prescribed narrative, but Singularity still tells a grand story—a synesthetic evocation of how it feels to be alive.

100
The Arts Desk

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.

91
Pretty Much Amazing

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.

90
Loud and Quiet
You don’t have to believe in the transformative or research the ‘Wim Hof Method’ the way he has to truly understand the album, because if you strip away the concept, ‘Singularity’ still stands as a collection of tracks that power through everything from rugged techno and transcendent choral music to solo acoustic piano and psychedelic ambient that resonate beyond meditative exploration.
90
musicOMH

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.

90
AllMusic

As striking as Immunity was, Singularity feels more developed, and it's ultimately a tough call as to which album is more exciting.

90
Mixmag
Hopkins uses his dancefloor nous, classical background and meditative training to beguile us. It's a beautiful bastard of a record.
90
Northern Transmissions

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.

85
Earmilk
Overall the entire album is extremely powerful and moves through a range of emotions that are bound to stir something within you.
85
XLR8R

Singularity continues in the vein of Immunity, though its depth of feeling is greater, and rhythmic power more potent.

83
Pitchfork
Pitched between heat-seeking acid house and ambient bliss, the techno auteur’s first album since 2013 is a beat-music odyssey that thrums with spiritual resonance.
80
Spill Magazine

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.

80
Q Magazine

Singularity is rich enough to let your mind wander through it.

80
Mojo
Meticulously constructed, yet with melodies and rhythms born out of improvisation, it's an album of two halves, moving from euphoric collapse to an uncertain contentment.
80
The Irish Times
Musician's fifth album is said to reflect his psychology during the writing process.
80
Clash
Hopkins remains in ascension, and no one is on his level right now.
80
Exclaim!

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.

80
Sputnikmusic

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.

80
DIY
As a trip of just over an hour, ‘Singularity’ is varied and consistently compelling.
80
Under the Radar

Singularity is an album that will remain in the memory long after the final note is played and will demand repeated listens.

80
PopMatters

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.

80
Drowned in Sound

Ultimately, Singularity will shape your summer of 2018 the same way Immunity did of 2013, and all power to it.

76
Resident Advisor

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.

75
The Line of Best Fit

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.

70
Uncut
Even if the landscape is occasionally a little too pleasant, the overall trip is well worth taking.
70
Crack Magazine

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.

70
The Needle Drop

Singularity successfully reaches for the stars for a good part of its runtime.

70
Spectrum Culture

Singularity, as an experience, goes through such a vast range of life, and the beauty is in the seamlessly graceful transition through it all.

70
The 405
Some may find Singularity are a bit too obvious and dramatic, but in regards to sound-design and production, however, each track is executed to near-perfection.
60
The Observer
Too often ... you’re left wishing for the thuggish bass and head-severing hi-hats of less cerebral dance music. There’s not enough food for the brain or fuel for the feet here.
60
Dork

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.

40
The Guardian
Too much of this album is the sort of thing people stick on to make their drug comedowns feel meaningful.
morningsbell
85

Jon Hopkins is a gift to the world

Muhammad231299
88

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

scott96k
81

Holy shit bois... Emerald Rush is fucking ethereal

EDIT: the whole thing is ethereal

84

Holy fuckk!!!! I love Jon hopkins

89

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

MrGuy
77

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

Purchasing Singularity from Amazon helps support Album of the Year. Or consider a donation?


Added on: February 23, 2018