JON HOPKINS

Ironically, my tastes aren't that experimental, and I wouldn't describe my music on the surface as being overtly experimental, either.

The first thing I remember hearing was just the dance music that was in the charts when I was growing up. I don't remember many of the names of specific tracks - they were just kind of early acid house things.

I don't want to make an album which is full of brutal and jarring techno.

It's really important for me to have a record which has a strong narrative feel to it.

You can't allow your creative sessions to be dominated by miniscule editing processes.

I was always fascinated particularly with synths: how they looked and stuff that when you're a kid you're like this is the most incredible thing in the world just to play.

No, I'm a quite big believer in not being in the studio if I don't feel like being in there.

You can only make the best thing you can make, and if it offends purists, or angers certain critics, you can only have done your best.

It sounds a bit pretentious, but I'm never really conscious of what I'm doing musically.

Sometimes I think elements of 'Open Eye Signal' are better live. I do this really crazy stuff at the end, but I don't know if it'd translate well into recording. It would probably sound a bit too extreme.

I think there's a spiritual element to dancing in general. There's a reason why in every culture, dancing seems to be in our DNA.

Whenever I've improved, gone up a level in sound-making, it's been because I've done an album.

When you've got hardly any equipment, very little money and no access to any information, your sound is very much dictated by you, your setup and what you're listening to. Nothing more.

I was guided into piano lessons and 'guided' is a nice way of saying 'forced.' I don't regret it, but I think music theory as a concept doesn't work.

I like to have an album arc that comes from an experience rather than a story.

Meditation is a regular part of my day, every day.

I'm not interested in making an album that's just dark and pummelling for an hour, nor am I interested in making a beatless record from start to finish.

I love exploring the hypnotic elements of music, and because of that there are very long tracks on 'Immunity.'

I love truly forward-thinking music, and I'm not even sure I'd describe my work as that, even.

I prefer a long day of starting in the morning over working late into the night.

There's never been a time when there hasn't been ritualistic dancing, and I think clubbing is our modern incarnation of that.

Well, I don't really use MIDI that much. But I do record audio around me a lot, and just layer it up and see what effect it has, without any aforethought.

When you sit there doing a film score for three months there's no time to experiment.

Ever since I got a job in Imogen Heap's touring band when I was 17, there have been moments in my career that I can't quite believe really happened.

I was drawn to music from a super early age. At school, my ego co-opted it to some degree and I would use it to gain some sort of social credibility.