Jon Hopkins has announced a new album. It’s called Music for Psychedelic Therapy and will be released on November 12th (digital / CD) and February 11th (LP) via Domino. Today Hopkins released the album “Sit Around the Fire”, a collaboration with producer and ceremonial leader East Forest, which features the voice of the late guru Ram Dass. Check it out below.
Hopkins said in a statement that his album, which contains no beats or drum sounds, was created from an expedition to the Tayos Caves in Ecuador in 2018. “Music for psychedelic therapy is not ambient, classical, or drone, but contains elements of all three,” he said. “For me it’s both a place and a sound. It works for the sober mind, but takes on a whole new dimension when introduced into a psychedelic ceremony. “
“’Sit Around The Fire’ exists out of one of the deep synchronicities that initiated this [album] launched, ”added Hopkins. “I was contacted by East Forest, who had been with Ram Dass in Hawaii for some time before his death. He was given access to several less-heard lectures from the 1970s and asked them to set them to music. He sent me some starting points, including the beautiful choral singing he recorded that opens the piece. I put on my headphones and with Ram Dass’ voice in my head, I sat at the piano and improvised. What you hear is the first thing that came out – it just appeared in response to the words. “
Music for Psychedelic Therapy is Hopkins’ first long player since Singularity in 2018. Last year he released another wellness-oriented piece called “Singing Bowl (Ascension),” which he wrote with meditative practices in mind. The track followed another new piano composition, “Scene Suspended,” which Hopkins made live debut at the Sydney Opera House. More recently he released the cover EP Piano Versions, a counterpart to the Sleep Versions from 2014.
Music for psychedelic therapy:
01 Welcome
02 Tayos Caves, Ecuador i
03 Tayos Caves, Ecuador ii
04 Tayos Caves, Ecuador iii
05 Love flows over us in prismatic waves
06 Deep in the glowing heart
07 Ascending, dawn
08 Arrive
09 Sit Around The Fire (with Ram Dass, East Forest)
