"I urge you to find a Pitchblack Playback event near you and go along."
—TechRadar
EXPERIENCE
→
Pitchblack Playback: Jon Hopkins’ RITUAL
- Experience
- Past Event
- Music
- Immersion
PHI Centre
Espace 1 + Listening room
407 Saint-Paul St
Montreal, Quebec, H2Y 2M3
All ages
SEPTEMBER 5*
SPATIAL AUDIO EXPERIENCE IN ESPACE 1
Doors: 7:30 PM
Event: 8 PM
*THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT
───
SEPTEMBER 6–15
LISTENING SESSIONS IN HABITAT SONORE
Friday: 4:30 PM to 9 PM
Saturday: 1:30 PM to 9 PM
Sunday: 1:30 PM to 9 PM
Duration: Approximately 45 min.
Last entry: 7:30 PM
General admission: $21.75*
*Price including service fees, excluding taxes
Note: Tickets include a Pitchblack Playback eye mask for extra darkness. The intimate listening sessions inside Habitat Sonore are only for 10 people each.
To ensure the best possible experience for everyone, latecomers will not be admitted into the listening room.
The experience is offered to an audience of all ages. Upon arrival, we ask all visitors to remain silent throughout their experience, to ensure a pleasant experience for all.
Before visiting, please review some essential information about the visit, including details on accessibility at the Centre.
To celebrate the release of Jon Hopkins’ new album RITUAL, join us for a spatial audio experience in the PHI Centre’s concert venue on September 5.
The celebration will then continue with small group listening sessions in our Habitat Sonore: Listening room from September 6 to 8 and September 13 to 15.
What is Habitat Sonore? ↓
Presented by
JON HOPKINS'
NEW ALBUM
A week after its official release, audiences are being given the opportunity to experience Jon Hopkins’ forthcoming album RITUAL (Domino Record Label) in its entirety at the PHI Centre.
The kinetic counterpart to Jon’s most recent release, the celebrated innerspace odyssey Music For Psychedelic Therapy, the new work is a single track, 41-minute ceremonial epic, built from cavernous subs, hypnotic drumming and transcendent melodic interplay. Tense, immersive and ultimately triumphant, it is a culmination of themes explored throughout his 22-year career.
“I have no idea what I’m doing when I’m composing. I don’t know where it’s coming from, or where it’s going. I just know when it’s finished,” says Jon. “What is clear is that this one had the structure of a Ritual. I know what that Ritual is for me, but it will be something different for you. All I know is it felt like a tool, even a machine, for opening portals within your inner world, for unlocking things that are hidden and buried. It doesn’t feel like an album, therefore, more a process to go through, something that works on you.”
Lovingly constructed from many hundreds of constituent parts from a cast of trusted collaborators, Jon describes his role as akin to “building a temple”, with every brick and detail carefully fashioned and coloured in service to the whole.
The results of this joyful enterprise in sonic divination will be available for everyone to experience in spatial audio at the PHI Centre’s Habitat Sonore listening room.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT
THE EXPERIENCE
"It’s the way I remember experiencing music when I was a teenager, turning out the lights and just allowing myself to be carried away by the music."
—Steven Wilson
"This [experience] sounds great"
—Rick Rubin
"I have an out-of-body experience every time I go [to a Pitchblack Playback listening session]."
—Jonny,
artist manager
“Only someone with Hopkins’ compositional know-how could pull this off so effortlessly.”
—Pitchfork
PRESENTED BY
Pitchblack Playback have hosted album listening sessions in the dark around the world since 2016 in cinemas and in other great sound spaces. Their events seek to create a space where music can be enjoyed in high quality with no distractions, and have been attended by some 30,000 people to date.
ABOUT HABITAT SONORE
Habitat Sonore is an intimate listening space designed to accommodate up to 10 people. This small capacity enhances total immersion into the sound world of artists from here and elsewhere. The experience unfolds in near darkness, which helps to emphasize the sound. We invite you to settle in comfortably, let your mind wander, close your eyes if you wish, and be carried away by a unique and captivating auditory journey.
Learn more about the listening room and its programming here ↓
Habitat Sonore: Listening room
November 21 → January 19
Tune out outside noise and immerse yourself in one of Montreal's only spatial audio listening rooms
Past Event
Centre
Habitat Sonore: A Kind of Harmony
September 21 → November 3, 2024
A series of immersive interviews and sound pieces exploring the transformative powers of sound
Habitat Sonore: Listening room
November 21 → January 19
Tune out outside noise and immerse yourself in one of Montreal's only spatial audio listening rooms
Past Event
Centre
Habitat Sonore: A Kind of Harmony
September 21 → November 3, 2024
A series of immersive interviews and sound pieces exploring the transformative powers of sound
More Events at PHI
Free
Centre
Chromatic Myriad
August 15 → July 31
The PHI Centre showcases a light installation with evolving content, adapting to the seasons and exhibitions
Off-Site Location
The Horizon of Khufu
February 16 → November 30
The immersive experience Horizon of Khufu, presented in the Old Port, is a unique VR expedition to discover the wonders of Egypt
Free
Centre
Embodied Spaces
February 24 → December 31
A monthly gathering of live performances where art comes to life
Centre
Coded Dreams
October 9 → January 12
An immersive exhibition that encourages you to explore the frontiers of artificial intelligence (AI) through two unique and captivating experiences
At Place Des Arts
Off-Site Location
Jim Henson's The Storyteller: The Seven Ravens
October 15 → February 23
An augmented reality storybook that draws from advancements in augmented reality to transport you to the heart of a timeless tale
Free
Foundation
Laure Prouvost: Oma-je
November 1 → March 9
The PHI Foundation for Contemporary Art is pleased to present Oma-je, the largest North American exhibition to date by acclaimed French artist Laure Prouvost
Free
Foundation
My-Van Dam: Spaces of Resonance
November 2 → March 9
The PHI Foundation is pleased to present Spaces of Resonance, a public engagement project by artist My-Van Dam
Free
Foundation
Daily Guided Tours
November 20 → March 9
Our Visitor Experience Coordination team offers guided tours in French and English of the exhibition Laure Prouvost: Oma-je during our opening hours