Ritual (Jon Hopkins album)

In 2022, Hopkins composed music for Dreamachine, a large-scale immersive artwork inspired by Brion Gysin's 1959 Dreamachine device. The project used flickering light and spatial audio for audiences experiencing it with their eyes closed, and toured the United Kingdom as part of the Unboxed programme that year. Hopkins later revisited that material and expanded it into a standalone album during the second half of 2023. Writing in the Financial Times, Kate Hutchinson described these events as part of a series of listening sessions that Hopkins held during summer 2024. == Composition ==

Ritual is structured as a single uninterrupted work spread across eight titled chapters. Reviewers described the album as an ambient-leaning work with a gradual structural build. The Guardian noted beatless drones, twinkling electronics and wordless vocals, with the rhythmic pulse arriving midway through the album rather than functioning as club-oriented propulsion. Resident Advisor described the work as moving from chimes and bells toward a central climax before ending with a piano-led conclusion. == Critical reception ==

Ritual received generally favourable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 74 based on 13 reviews. Under the Radar gave the album 8.5 out of 10, describing it as "an album experience unlike any other". Resident Advisor called the album "ingeniously crafted" and argued that it heightened the senses and encouraged reflection. In The Guardian, Alexis Petridis wrote that the album's strongest passages arrived in the middle sections, especially "Evocation" and "Solar Goddess Return", though he found the overall experience "congenial and diverting rather than transformative". The Skinny awarded three stars out of five, while Spill Magazine gave 6 out of 10. Andrew Ryce of Pitchfork gave the album 6.5 out of 10, describing it as richly textured and carefully composed, but more restrained than Hopkins's earlier club-oriented albums. == Track listing ==

All track titles are stylised in lower case. == Charts ==

Ritual reached number 10 on the Scottish Albums Chart, number 51 on the UK Albums Chart and number 5 on the UK Independent Albums Chart. == Personnel ==

Credits adapted from Bandcamp album credits, Domino's album announcement, Pitchfork's release report, and release metadata. Musicians • Jon Hopkins – composition, production, mixing • Christopher Clark – additional production, mixing • Vylana – vocals • 7RAYS – drums, analogue synthesizers • Emma Smith – viola, violin • Daisy Vatalaro – cello • Leo Abrahams – guitar • Cherif Hashizume – modular synthesis, mixing • Matt Hillier – Shepard tones • Experiments in Silence – additional sounds Technical • Jamison Baken – recording engineer • Matt Colton – mastering Artwork • Matthew Cooper – layout • Stephen McNally – artwork == References ==