Jon Hopkins shares cover of Thom Yorke’s “Dawn Chorus”

As 2020 comes to a close, Jon Hopkins has shared a new piano cover of “Dawn Chorus” by Thom Yorke, taken from Yorke’s recent album, Anima. Recorded in one take on the upright he has had since childhood, Hopkins’ version of “Dawn Chorus” is a beautifully melancholic reinvention of the original.

Hopkins on “Dawn Chorus”:

“I felt such bliss the first time I heard this piece - it seemed so mysterious and hypnotic, oblique but warm. I thought there was so much beauty in that chord sequence that there was room to explore it on the piano and see what grew from it. One day in early April when everything was particularly quiet and surreal outside, I went into my studio for the first time in weeks and ended up recording the whole thing in one take. I left it very raw and upfront, with just some sub bass and vocal drones in the background. The whole thing was done in a day and was a very cathartic experience.”