Jon Hopkins has shared his beautiful new piece 'Singing Bowl (Ascension)'.
The piece was seemingly prompted by the impact of lockdown, with Jon Hopkins' touring plans being cancelled.
Left with an empty calendar, he decided to fill this space with creation, deciding to follow a meditative path.
A series of such pieces are seemingly in the works, with beatific new composition 'Singing Bowl (Ascension)' utilising a 100 year old instrument uncovered in an antiques shop in Delhi.
An earlier version of this generative piece was used as a sound installation at last year’s Helsinki Arts Festival, but the new release occupies its own solar system.
Jon Hopkins comments:
"Like so many people I felt pretty paralysed by this situation when it first unfolded. All my plans for the year were cancelled, and everything felt so weird and dreamlike. But gradually I found I wanted to create something – to find peace and perspective through making music, as I have always done."
"It felt beautifully pure to just use one acoustic sound source, and no synths. It was liberating to write something without playing anything on a keyboard – to avoid the familiar diatonic scale for the first time, and thus avoid any of my own conditioned playing habits."
"There was a magic in setting this generative system in motion then just letting the vibrations of this bowl create their own world. I listened to harmonics layering on top of harmonics for hours and was transported."
The piece premiered as part of a specially curated 24 hour playlist for Spotify, designed to aid deep meditation.
Whether you find it useful for your meditation practice or not, 'Singing Bowl (Ascension) is a remarkably beautiful vignette from one of our very best artists.
Tune in now.
Photo Credit: Eoin Carey
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