Ritual vinyl

With Ritual, electronica mastermind Jon Hopkins follows up his storied meditation-aid LP, Music For Psychedelic Therapy, for a return to the sublime uplifts that characterised his establishing sound. Somehow, Hopkins says of his latest full-length, "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." Such remarkable humility sits in in stark contrast to the deep grandeur of the record, which refreshingly seems to have been made without overconscious intent; Hopkins' describes his approach to the album as a simple matter of creation, without too much second-guessing or reasoning after the fact. This would seem to counteract Psychedelic Therapy's interest in self-reflection and personal enlightenment; Ritual, as we glean from the title, is more action-oriented, pursuing the many epic pilgrimages and blue beyonds that Hopkins was first known to have embarked upon.