For the most part, music is something to be shared with other human beings. There is no denying that the experience of sound can be heightened when shared as collective joy – the club, the gig, the gathering of friends. But this is not always the case. For as much as there is music rooted in the visceral, there is just as much out there designed for solo, internal meanderings. Music for the mind, the soul, the rainy day alone. Jon Hopkins makes this kind of music.

Insides is Hopkins’ third full length of ambient/electronica/IDM – genres which these days can often be, due to the vast amount of output available these days, steeped in mediocrity. And even when you’re dealing with quality material, mainstream audiences are often very dismissive because of a lack of directness, with a tendency to give up after the first listen if something does not instantly grab them. This is understandable. Yet with Insides nothing could be further from the truth, for Hopkins’ productions possess distinction: tracks like The Low Places, Vessel and Wire exhibit delicate piano riffs and soaring emotional soundscapes that are juxtaposed with hard-hitting, broken industrial beats – giving his electronica some of that instant appeal. Even when the beats take a back seat the hooks are still present, with the album’s centrepiece Light Through The Veins letting the melodies do all the work as they build and swirl into oblivion while the gentle bassline and tender kick drum merely act as a small vehicle of propulsion. Hopkins is also just as happy to have no rhythm present at all – Autumn Hill and Small Memory being delicate piano pieces that are simple yet still effective enough to evoke.

Listening to Insides, it’s easy to see why Hopkins was invited by Brian ‘Godfather of Ambient’ Eno to Sydney for last month’s Luminous Festival. Or even why Eno got him onboard to help co-produce Coldplay’s latest effort. He has a clean, accessible sound and though his music doesn’t push any boundaries or really surprise, it still has a distinctive and almost traditional tone to it. Enough so that you could even label it ‘modern classical’.

So why not embrace these colder months? After all, Hopkins has provided such a fitting soundtrack for wintery reflection.