Floating Points

Floating Points – aka Sam Shepherd – has so many guises it’s certainly not easy to pin him down. There’s the artist whose 2015 debut album Elaenia was met with rave reviews – including Pitchfork’s Best New Music and Resident Advisor’s Album of the Year – and took him from dancefloors to festival stages worldwide. The curator, whose records have brought soulful new sounds into the club and, on his esteemed imprint Melodies International, reinstated old ones. And then, perhaps first and foremost, there's the composer, esteemed for his eclecticism, Shepherd has created music with the likes of Gnawa musician Mahmoud Guinia while his 16-piece Floating Points Ensemble, honoured by Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards, brings the club to the concert hall (and vice versa). Floating Points’ 2019 album Crush, reveals his symphonic craftsmanship, combining classical sensibilities with complex Buchla synthesizer heard in tracks like ‘Falaise’ and ‘Requiem for CS70 and Strings’. Promises, Floating Points’ latest album, is a continuous 46 minute piece composed by Shepherd for Saxophone, Strings, Keyboards and electronics, featuring Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra.