Jon Hopkins – Asleep Versions

One of the UK’s most celebrated producer-DJs, Jon Hopkins elaborates one dimension of his idiosyncratic techno aesthetic on a new EP of ambient music. “Asleep Versions” dematerializes the visceral textures and decelerates the rhythmic chug of four tracks from his last album, 2013’s Mercury Prize-nominated Immunity. The result is 25 minutes of becalmed, astonishing music, reminiscent of the instrumentals of Brian Eno (a Hopkins collaborator), the sonic vistas of Sigur Rós, and the still passages from Talk Talk’s final albums.

Obviously, titling an EP “Asleep” clues you in to one functionality of this new release. It also works just as effectively to cast waking daydreams of freedom, rendering the beauty and tragedy of everyday life more acute even as the compulsion of their daily narrative is dissolved. Play “Asleep Versions” on your commute to soundtrack your own Koyaanisqatsi experience.

“Asleep Versions” comes out November 11 on Domino Records.

JON HOPKINS TOUR DATES
10-01 Berlin, DE – Admiralspalast
10-03 Warsaw, PL – FreeFormFestival
10-04 Bologna, IT – Robot Festival
10-18 Amsterdam, NL – Trouw
10-24 Mexico City, MX – Mutek.MX
10-26 Co Wicklow, IE – Samhain Festival
10-30 Paris, FR – Pitchfork Music Fetival
11-03 Tokyo, JP – Hostess Club Weekender
11-05 Taipei, TW – Hostess Club Taipei Legacy
11-08 Singapore, SG – Hostess Club Weekender
11-09 Bangalore, IN – NH7 Weekender
11-21 Brooklyn, NY – Output
12-04 Brighton, UK – Brighton Dome
12-12 Manchester, UK – The Warehouse Project
12-16 Cape Town, ZA – Sónar Cape Town
04-24 London, UK – Brixton Academy