Niall emailed me the other day to recommend an album – Opalescent by Jon Hopkins.

Hailing from London, Hopkins is a maker of classical electronica, and Opalescent is simply beautiful – sublime, chilled music that is complex without being cluttered, and has a soft, floaty, almost ethereal and angelic sort of air about it. I bought it on iTunes the other day, and liked it so much I immediately bought his second album Contact Note and an EP called, originally, EP 1.

His music is a wee bit like Ulrich Schnauss, but brighter and lighter. There’s a very soundtracky feel to it, too – as you listen you can imagine some tracks fitting in with Lord of the Rings, others with Blade Runner or The Matrix – and some of his stuff has apparently been used in a number of TV shows and adverts.

Overall, I’m very glad to have discovered him. It’s perfect easy weekend listening.

Talking of weekends, mine is about to conclude with a trip to Aberdeen, where I will be doing an overnight in advance of a day in Cupar. Thankfully its my only trip of what will nevertheless be a very busy week.