He began his career playing keyboards for Imogen Heap, and has produced but also contributed to albums by Brian Eno, Coldplay, David Holmes and others.

[4] His collaborations on Small Craft on a Milk Sea with Brian Eno and Leo Abrahams and Diamond Mine with King Creosote both reached No.

[14] As a teenager he also listened to acid house, early hardcore, grunge,[16] as well as electronic artists such as Acen, Seefeel, and Plaid.

[18] By the age of 15, he had saved up enough money from winning piano competitions to buy a low-level professional Roland synth,[13] and on this he began creating his first full-length electronic compositions.

[19] After finishing his final exams at age 17, Hopkins accompanied his friend Leo Abrahams to an audition for Imogen Heap's backing band.

[14] In 1999, Hopkins signed with boutique London label Just Music as a solo artist, and began recording his debut album Opalescent.

Using synth oozes, phased and echoed guitars and pianos and chilled beats, his wonderful tunes drift from calm to eerie power like a restless sea...

"[20] DJ Magazine gave it 4/5 stars, and stated "Piano, guitar strings and slow beats blend like the clouds at sunset (or an opiate smoothy) filtering in and out like elegantly wasted beauty.

[17] In 2007, Hopkins was invited by Eno, who was producing Coldplay's upcoming album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, to join the band in the studio for a day.

[17] Hopkins developed an intense live show to support the release, resulting in club and festival performances across Europe and the United States.

[23] Paul Clarke of the BBC wrote thatHopkins [is] capable of producing music as epic, soaring and emotional as any power ballad in his own way.

Take "Light Through The Veins" for example ... a close relative of Ulrich Schnauss' "In All the Wrong Places", it's a majestic piece of widescreen shoegazing which grows ever more expansive throughout its entire ten-minute duration ... no amount of reflected glory could ever fully illuminate Insides' mysterious depths.

[25]In June 2009, Hopkins was invited by Brian Eno to play some solo shows at the Luminous Festival at the Sydney Opera House.

A few weeks prior to leaving, Eno asked Hopkins to join with himself, Underworld's Karl Hyde, Leo Abrahams, and the Sydney-based improv trio the Necks in the group "Pure Scenius", the planned finale for the Luminous Festival.

[citation needed] Also in 2010, Hopkins was commissioned to create the soundtrack for the British science fiction film Monsters, which was directed by Gareth Edwards.

[26] Hopkins collaborated with Tunng on the EP Seven Gulps of Air in 2009, which was commissioned by designer Christopher Kelly for London Fashion Week.

On 19 July 2011, Hopkins and Anderson were announced as nominees for the 2011 Barclaycard Mercury Prize, which is annually awarded for best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland.

[29][30] Among the artists that contributed vocals were long-time collaborator King Creosote, and Corin Roddick and Megan James of the band Purity Ring.

In 2014, Hopkins co-produced the song "Midnight" for Coldplay's 2014 album Ghost Stories, and released an EP titled Asleep Versions on 10 November.

The EP has additional vocals from Raphaelle Standell-Preston of the band Braids & regular collaborator King Creosote, and artwork from Robert Hunter.

[10] It comprises ambient music designed to accompany psychedelic trips, including a track incorporating words from the spiritual leader Ram Dass.

He transcends genres, melding digital coldness with subtle, bucolic textures; veering from skewed elegance to strange, unsettling depths.

"[16] "He makes powerfully emotive, instrumental music that consistently crosses genres, ranging from solo acoustic piano to explosive, bass-heavy electro.

"[19] As of September 2010, his studio setup relies on a Logic system,[41] though all his previous releases were on Cubase VST, used in conjunction with an old version of SoundForge.