On 2 September 2021, Jon Hopkins announced the release of his sixth studio album, along with the first single "Sit Around the Fire".[6] Of the single, which features collaborations by East Forest and Ram Dass, Hopkins said:
"Sit Around the Fire" exists from one of the deep synchronicities that ushered this thing (Music for Psychedelic Therapy) into being. I was contacted by East Forest, who had spent some time with Ram Dass in Hawaii before he passed. He was given access to several lesser-heard talks from the 70s, and asked to set them to music. He sent me some starting points, including the beautiful choral vocals he recorded which open the piece. I put my headphones on and with Ram Dass' voice inside my head, I sat at the piano and improvised. What you hear is the first thing that came out - it just appeared in response to the words."[7]
Music for Psychedelic Therapy was met with "generally favorable" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 79 based on 13 reviews.[11] Aggregator AnyDecentMusic? gave the release a 7.5 out of 10 based on a critical consensus of 14 reviews.[10]
The Guardian's Kitty Empire stated that for all its "pervasive beauty", ultimately the album "feels like only the eight-minute apex track 'Deep in the Glowing Heart' rearranges the listener's molecules in a transformational way."[15]Pitchfork's Megan Buerger was more positive, observing that when "the final hums fade and tape crackles lift, you get a glimpse at the wide-eyed resolution felt when the chemical loosens its grip."[2] Recognising Hopkins' as a "master at suspense and release", they praised his new-found restraint on the record.[2]
