Photo: Justin Gardner

Jon Hopkins has been busy. Off the back of his 2013 Mercury Prize-nominated album, Immunity, he has embarked on a huge European tour, arranged films scores, whilst also finding the time to wave his magic producer’s wand over the new Coldplay album. Saturday night saw him bring his raw, emotive electronica to the chilly confines of Canal Mills.

The night really got started when Bambooman dropped his remix of Jhest’s ‘Camberwell Carrots’ – in which he chops and screws through an enchanted soundscape – which was justifiably met with huge cheers of appreciation. Tourist was up next, riding the wave of the crowd’s fervour until Hopkins took the stage. Tourist’s ambient-house stylings climaxed in the mesmering ‘Tonight’; the only downside was that he didn’t find time to play ‘Your Girl’, which was a bit of a shame.

Hopkins took to the stage at around the 2am mark to a heaving crowd, a thrilling response to the reputation of his live A/V show. First was a pulsating, atmospheric ‘Open Eye Signal’, a seguing perfectly into the melancholic keys of ‘Breathe This Air’; the rest of the set veered from unsettling digital coldness to bass-heavy electro.

But tonight was all about the much-lauded visuals which accompany Hopkins’ music. Juxtaposing images of natural beauty with scenes of industrial decay and at one point trapping us in the claustrophobic confines of an astronaut’s view upon take-off, it truly was a spectacle to behold.

Nick Suarez

Tourist – ‘Tonight’ [Monday Records]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msgy3wzJ1h8

Jon Hopkins – ‘Breathe This Air’ [Domino]