In 2018, the British electronic producer set off on a mission to conceptualize a new genre of music specifically engineered to enhance guided trips. That, he has said, is how he wound up in a cave in the Amazon rainforest, marveling at nature and thinking about synths. The field recordings from that expedition form the basis of Music for Psychedelic Therapy, his immersive soundtrack to consciousness exploration that's timed to the length of a ketamine high. A glacial, continuous ambient piece that draws on the epic beauty of nature, it's a thoughtful blueprint for what the future of this field might sound like: spacious, delicate, comforting, a pastel mural of sound. The album's function and utility are key. It's one thing to make art inspired by altered states; Hopkins' mountainous 2018 album Singularity is a tribute to spiritual odysseys and vision quests. It's another to compose music to accompany such journeys, especially those conducted in supervised clinical settings where many patients are suffering from depression, addiction, or PTSD. What music will make patients feel safe while also nudging them out of their comfort zones? Should the tape exist as background music or serve as a spiritual guide? Hopkins' strategy is to avoid too many specifics, forgoing beats and melodies for wide open space. This vastness may verge on tedious for more sober listeners who find themselves floating in its gossamer abyss, but it gives the record an important, practical flexibility. Rather than reflect his own idea of consciousness, he constructs an expansive, pink-hued canvas upon which we can project our own. You get the impression that Hopkins is aiming to set an example, and viewing the record as a touchstone for future works. Even the modernist, academic title feels as though it's designed to be source material, cited decades down the line.