Jon throws up amazing Singularity of purpose

It is five years since electronic music producer and musician Jon Hopkins released his last studio album. Immunity was nominated for the 2013 Mercury Prize but lost out to James Blake’s sophomore album, Overgrown.This was 38-year-old Jon’s second Mercury nomination. Two years earlier, Diamond Mine, his collaboration album with Scottish singer/ songwriter King Creosote, had been beaten by PJ Harvey’s eighth studio album, Let England Shake.Jon could well be in line for a third Mercury nomination with his recently released fifth studio album, Singularity. Unlike his previous albums, all of which attracted acclaim from those within the music industry, Singularity has become a massive mainstream hit. In addition to topping the Dance/ Electronic chart, it has entered the UK Albums chart at number nine.“I’m delighted that so many people are enthusiastic about the album,” smiled Kingston upon Thames-born Jon. “It’s an album I’ve wanted to make for the last 15 years. But it’s only been during the last couple of years that I’ve been able to figure out how to make it happen.“There were several things I knew in advance. These included the title; it was always going to be called Singularity. I always wanted the album to begin and end with the same simple tone and for each sound to seemingly grow out of everything else. I knew what I wanted, but I had to wait for the music technology to catch up with my ideas.The programme I use now is Ableton. This gave me the facility for one sound to gradually lead to another. One track on the album has a synth sound morphing into a choral sound. The idea of a choir developing from electronic sounds is something I’ve been looking to do for all these years.”The music on Singularity was shaped by Jon’s experiences of meditation and trance states. It is said that the tracks explore the dissonance between dystopian urbanity and the green forest from the opening note of foreboding to the final sound of acceptance.Make of that what you will. But Jon is a staunch advocate of the relaxation techniques invoked by both autogenic training and Transcendental Meditation.“It’s a way for me to get music ideas flowing which are totally uninhibited. I don’t practice those techniques for very long during my average day but it’s a state of mind I try to visit whenever possible.”Delighting in the combination of sounds dates back to Jon’s childhood. His taste could hardly be more eclectic. He was a devotee of early house music, loved synth bands such as Depeche Mode and Pet Shop Boys but spent five years studying classical piano in the junior department of London’s Royal College of Music.“I really started at the age of three when my parents bought me a toy xylophone. I don’t actually remember but my parents say I put the notes in the order of scale and composed a simple piece of music on it. They realised I had an aptitude for music. I played a piano at a friend’s house and showed enough ability for my parents to buy a piano for me.”Jon found himself labelled as a child prodigy, particularly after winning a competition to perform a concert of Ravel pieces with a full orchestra. But despite saying Ravel and Stravinsky are his favourite composers, Jon’s love for classical music gradually subsided as his attention turned more towards electronic sounds.“I got my first job at 17 playing keyboards in Imogen Heap’s band. Our first album, iMegaphone, was well received. I thought everything would take off and that would be my job. But songs for the second album were rejected. There were changes at the record company and Imogen was dropped. There was no money coming in and I had to do something else.“I created my first album, Opalescent, and worked as a studio session musician. This was my life for several years during which I also released my second album, Contact Note. My friend Leo Abrahams introduced me to Brian Eno and that’s when my career really started to take off.”Jon’s fruitful collaborations with Eno led to co-writing and production work with other artists. Brian also introduced Jon to Coldplay.“He was producing the songs on their Viva La Vida album and invited me to join Coldplay in the studio for a day. That day turned into a year. I co-produced several tracks, played various instruments on songs and the band used music from one of my own compositions on two of their tracks.”Jon was Coldplay’s opening act on their world tour to promote Viva La Vida. His work was also noticed by others in the entertainment world. Choreographer Wayne McGregor asked Jon to compose music for Entity, a new production by Wayne’s Random Dance group. Such was the acclaim that Entity was toured around the world for two years.Some tracks on Jon’s third album, 2009’s Insides, were based on the music he composed for Entity.“That was my first hit album. It did well on the dance charts. I also promoted it with shows across Europe and America, performed at music festivals and opened concert tours for artists such as The xx, Four Tet and Royksopp.”The following few years saw Jon involved in a variety of projects ranging from production and remixing to collaborative albums and composing film scores. His fourth LP, Immunity, was another Dance / Electronic Albums chart hit and gave him his first mainstream chart entry peaking at number 63 in the UK.“It was four years between Insides and Immunity and now five years to Singularity. I don’t deliberately leave it so long between albums. I’m in the fortunate position of being involved with so many other things. This stemmed from the work I did with Coldplay. That really raised my profile.“I also find making my albums is an all-consuming process. I tend to create tracks in phases of intense work. It will start at quite a low level with ideas which can be tweaked here and there. “But studio work consumes all my energy. I’ll work all day and then find it difficult to sleep because I’ll still be thinking about the music. It’s an obsessive process. Luckily, this happens in bursts. I couldn’t stay healthy if it was like that all the time.”in briefScott HutchisonFrightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchison has become the latest prominent musician to take his own life.The 36-year-old singer, guitarist and songwriter suffered bouts of depression throughout his life. The name, Frightened Rabbit, was actually given to Scott by his mother as a child because of his chronic shyness. He initially performed under this name as a solo artist before other musicians were recruited to form the band.Their first two albums, 2007’s Sing the Greys and 2008’s The Midnight Organ Fight, made little impression on the charts. But 2010’s The Winter of Mixed Drinks hit number 61 in the UK and number 84 on the Billboard 200. 2013’s Pedestrian Verse and 2016’s Painting of a Panic Attack were both big UK hits and sold well around the world. Frightened Rabbit were definitely a band on the rise.But professional success is not always matched in someone’s personal life. Scott was staying at the Dakota Hotel in South Queensferry, near Edinburgh, when he last used his Twitter account. His tweets read: “Be so good to everyone you love. It’s not a given. I’m so annoyed that it’s not. I don’t live by that standard and it kills me. Please hug your loved ones. I’m away now. Thanks.” His body was later found by the marina in nearby Port Edgar.His bandmates had already expressed concern about Scott describing him as being in a fragile state and asking anyone who saw him to contact the police. The news of his passing elicited this message: “There are no words to describe the overwhelming sadness and pain that comes with the death of our beloved Scott, but to know he is no longer suffering brings us some comfort.”JamesVeteran Manchester indie band James have announced August 3 as the release date for their 15th studio album, Living in Extraordinary Times. It is the follow up to 2016’s Girl at the End of the World which hit number two on the UK chart and was only held out of top spot by Adele’s phenomenally successful 25.Two of the album tracks have already been heard on James’ recently released EP. These are Hank and the EP title-track, Better Than That. There are no official videos for either song but an official audio for Hank is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_Vf8dNikAk while Better Than That can be heard at www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWji1uB-dccThe other two EP tracks can also be heard online. Busted is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dp8Vy16-og while Broken By The Hurt is posted at www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UZHkGObAIk