80 / ComputermusiC / July 2019
interview / jon hopkins
JH:“Difficultquestion.I thinkI’dfindit very
difficultif I wascomingintomusictoday.Evenif
you’veonlygotAbletonLive,justlookatallthe
optionsyou’vegot.Youcandosomuch.You’ve
gotinfinitechoices.If you’renotcareful,you
startrunningaroundlikea headlesschicken.
“Whenyou’vegothardlyanyequipment,
verylittlemoneyandnoaccess toany
information,yoursoundisverymuchdictated
byyou,yoursetupandwhatyou’relisteningto.
Nothingmore.”
“YoucouldpossiblyarguethatI limitthe
musicasI’mwriting.I stripbackallthe
unnecessaryrubbish.I thinkyoucanhearthat
onthelastalbum– therhythmsdefinitelyfelt
simpler.I wasreallyjustlookingfora nice
groove,insteadofsomeover-programmed,
glitchyIDMthing.
“Removingstuffhasbecomea bigpartofthe
wayI work.If I’vehada daywriting,I sitdown
thenextmorningandstarttakingoutthe
rubbish.ThebitswhereI’vegottoofiddlyand
complex.Alltheadditionaldetailthatyouthink
a songneeds.Takeit out.Getridofit.”: You’re obviously a very good piano
player, technically speaking, having attended
the Royal College of Music from the age of 12,
studying Stravinsky and others. So it stands
to reason that you could very easily rustle up
a tunewiththousandsofchordchangesand
elaborateprogrock-stylemelodies.Doesthat
sideofyourmusicalbrainevertakeoverand
dictatewhatkindofmusicyouwrite?JH:“I don’tthinkit takesover,butit doescreep
in,whichiswhyI havetochipit awayasa song
takesshape.Mostproducersmake 100 songs
andchoosethebest 10 forthealbum.I make
100 songs, but that will be ten different versions
of the ten songs that are going on the album.
Each time I make a new version, it gets stripped
back. I take away more notes; take away more of
the beat.
“The most sonically complex song on
Singularity was probably Neon Pattern Drum.
The earlier versions were far heavier and much
more experimental. You might think that makes
it sound more interesting, but it wasn’t. It was
unsatisfying. Wildly spinning away from the core
aesthetic. Yes, I like experimentation, but I also
want my songs to be accessible. Complexity and
melodyworkingtogether.”: Did you ever consider going full-on
classical after you finished at the Royal
College of Music?
JH: “As a kid – and after I went to college – I was
aware that there had always been two strains of
music running through my life: the classical
piano thing and the free-form, electronic thing.
As far as I had been concerned, they were miles
apart, and there was very little chance of them
ever meeting.
“There was a studio at college, but we were
only allowed about an hour a week in there. An
hour doesn’t give you enough time to finish
anything, which meant there was no end result.
Being in the studio didn’t amount to anything.
On the other hand, if you’re good at piano and
you can play a particular piece, you’ve got your
end result right there.
“At 12 or 13 years old, kids tend to do what
they’re told. I was being pushed towards the
piano and I eventually found a very inspiring
piano teacher. She wasn’t much older than me –
probably in her early 20s – and she finally got
me to understand the piano. And I’m glad she
did, because it came in very useful over the
years. Dexterity, finger technique and all that.
“But, the older I got, the more I realised that
the piano side of things was existing completely
independently from the electronic side. And the
electronic side was where I felt most
comfortable. At 17 years old, when I finished my
exams, I had already decided that I didn’t want
to study any more. I wanted to make music with
my computer.
“And that’s what sort of happened. Thanks to
my friend, Leo Abrahams [Abrahams was at the
Royal College of Music with Hopkins and has
worked with the likes of Brian Eno, Karl Hyde
and Grace Jones], I was offered a job with
Imogen Heap’s band, playing keyboards. I was
straight out of college and earning 100 quid a
week. Unheard of these days!
“They even allowed me to pick a keyboard, so
I asked for the Korg Trinity, which I’d been
reading about in Future Music. There was no“I’d find it difficult if I was coming into music today.
You’ve got infinite choices. If you’re not careful, you
start running around like a headless chicken”
music. His 2013 album, Immunity, was often
called ‘techno’, but also featured delicate piano
and early-morning ambience. And it was the
same with last year’s Grammy-nominated
Singularity. Aphex Twin, psychedelia, glitchy,
EDM, IDM, heart-breaking, dystopian, brutal,
beautiful, classical... are all words you’ll find in
Singularity reviews.
And Hopkins himself opts for something
much simpler: “What do I call my music? Beats
withmelodies.”: ‘Eclectic’ is an overused word, but it’s
hard to listen to a Jon Hopkins album without
reaching for it. Is that how you’ve always
made music?
JH: “I can honestly say that I have never thought
of music in those terms. A bit of this, a bit of that.
I’m someone who believes in instinct. If I have a
method, that’s it. Follow your instinct. Don’t
worry about whether this piece of music is
meant to fit with that piece of music. If it feels
right in your head, that’s all you need.
“If the music has been shaped by anything,
it’s probably the availability of equipment at the
time. Limitation. For the first ten years, I was
working with a very limited setup... Cubase, a
pirated copy of Sound Forge, a pirated Juno VST
and a couple of bits of hardware. That was all I
had when I was trying to find my sound and,
looking back on it, those limits turned out to be
quiteuseful.”: I hate to bring his name in so early, but
your mate, Brian Eno, has often talked about
setting limits in the studio.
JH:“Probably the main thing I learned from
working with Brian is the importance of
accidents. If the music seems to be going off in
thatdirection,letit go.”: Do you still try and limit yourself in your
work today?Jon Hopkins at Brixton
Academy in April 2015
Photo by Nick Pickles/ Redferns via Getty Images