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May 4, 2018Though Singularity's 62-minutes can get extremely heavy--Hopkins fondly calls its gargantuan centrepiece ‘Everything Connected’ a “massive techno bastard” – it’s still a near-perfect trip, and one that confirms Hopkins’ status as one of the genre’s brightest talents.
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May 4, 2018There’s no prescribed narrative, but Singularity still tells a grand story--a synesthetic evocation of how it feels to be alive.
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May 1, 2018Singularity it feels like he’s levelled up the melding of two worlds: ambient and techno. Hopkins’ signature deep tissue massage bass is stitched together throughout, with unreal moments of musical beauty making Singularity a simply stunning album of emotional highs and lows.
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May 3, 2018Singularity is the follow up every fan would hope for. It's larger; it's denser; it's quicker. It’s a 63-minute microhouse masterpiece. It rebroadcasts Hopkins’ sound as a more atmospheric, clearer vision.
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MixmagJul 6, 2018Hopkins uses his dancefloor nous, classical background and meditative training to beguile us. It's a beautiful bastard of a record. [May 2018, p.117]
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May 4, 2018Building on the innovations of previous album Immunity, it invests more emotionally and retains the primal physical stimulus behind Hopkins’ best music. He remains a wholly individual voice in a congested field, a single phrase played from his piano speaking volumes. And Singularity is his best album yet.
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Apr 30, 2018Although it's possible to pick out this individual highlight, it’s when you take in the record in one sitting--with its subtle shifts of mood, highs, and lows--that you arrive on the other side mentally revived.
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May 10, 2018Singularity is ultimately grounded in the personal, not the cosmic, which is what makes this head music so rich.
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May 22, 2018This is an album to invest time and focus into. After the heady beginning, "Emerald Rush" gives a momentary rest before settling into a wonderful groove.
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May 8, 2018There are spoken words buried in these machine-like architectures, only the tone, not the sense of them coming through the music. It is a rather lovely space that Hopkins creates, lyrical but inhabited, precise and well-lighted and buoyant.
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May 8, 2018‘C O S M’ is the first dramatic reduction in pace, but proves to be only temporary respite, as the album’s second half builds to a glorious finale. Hopkins remains in ascension, and no one is on his level right now.
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May 7, 2018In self-reflection, Hopkins deconstructs Singularity; for all its avenues, detours, desperate reaches and anxious retreats, true inner peace rests on a foundation of simplicity. A modest concept, often taken for granted.
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May 4, 2018There is a distinct symmetry to the album with the effectiveness of the more urgent first half benefitting from the more ambient, immersive second, on an album that begs to be heard as a unified whole.
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May 4, 2018As a trip of just over an hour, Singularity is varied and consistently compelling.
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May 4, 2018As striking as Immunity was, Singularity feels more developed, and it's ultimately a tough call as to which album is more exciting.
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May 2, 2018Excellently crafted beats emerge throughout the album in tracks like ‘Neon Pattern Drum’, ‘Emerald Rush’--also released as a single--and most notably in the hefty ‘Everything Connected’, which Hopkins describes as a “massive techno bastard”.
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May 2, 2018Yet another satisfying record from the London-based producer, who, while loses marks for his perhaps too similar creation, remains an important figure in the UK electronic scene and for good reason. Ultimately, Singularity will shape your summer of 2018 the same way Immunity did of 2013, and all power to it.
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May 1, 2018Structural concerns aside, Singularity still finds Hopkins exploring sonic textures as deeply as ever. It's an album that, in its best moments, finds one of electronic music's great minds operating in peak form.
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MojoApr 30, 2018Meticulously constructed, yet with melodies and rhythms born out of improvisation, it's an album of two halves, moving from euphoric collapse to an uncertain contentment. [Jun 2018, p.89]
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Q MagazineApr 30, 2018Singularity is rich enough to let your mind wander through it. [Jun 2018, p.104]
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May 14, 2018A comparable transition on Singularity, between "Everything Connected" and "Feel First Life," is made to feel seamless, less like a change in circumstance than an ascent onto some higher plane. Some will feel completely immersed in that; others might simply admire it from a distance.
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May 3, 2018Singularity may not be a huge departure from the sound that we’ve previously heard from Hopkins, but this record is a masterclass in musical sonics--a reminder that music should be absorbed, not left to simply pass us by.
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May 11, 2018Singularity would be a dependable record to show someone in the process of discovering the wider world of electronic music, as it is exceptionally accessible, yet at the same time I feel that that same sense of accessibility and friendliness is what is wrong with it.
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UncutApr 30, 2018Even if the landscape is occasionally a little too pleasant, the overall trip is well worth taking. [Jun 2018, p.32]
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May 7, 2018Too often, though, you’re left wishing for the thuggish bass and head-severing hi-hats of less cerebral dance music. There’s not enough food for the brain or fuel for the feet here.
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May 4, 2018Too much of this album is the sort of thing people stick on to make their drug comedowns feel meaningful.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 73 out of 84
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Mixed: 4 out of 84
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Negative: 7 out of 84
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May 4, 2018
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Sep 9, 2018
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May 4, 2018This album feels like a cold breeze on a summernight. It is clear, bold and beautiful altogether. One of the best electronic albums I've listened to.