Debut Floating Points album on the way
Elaenia will arrive in November on the producer’s own Pluto label.
When you consider the career Sam Shepherd has had so far, it’s hard to imagine that he hasn’t already released an album. From the early dalliances with R2 and Planet Mu through to keeping a firm grip on his trajectory by almost exclusively self-releasing on his own Eglo label, there has not been much time that the music of Floating Points has not been universally celebrated. He does after all sport that rare appeal that can reach out to both hard-to-please disco and boogie heads and the most casual of weekend warriors, without compromising on his classically informed, finely balanced sound. With a live Ensemble project, collaborations with Moroccan musicians, writing and producing for Fatima and a high profile Plastic People residency, it could be reasonable to say that Floating Points is something of an institution in the very recent British electronic music annals.
The double-pack release Shadows was the most long-form release from Shepherd to date, and so understandably expectations are high for an officially declared full-length Floating Points release. Interestingly Elaenia is coming to light not on regular stable Eglo, but rather via a newly established Pluto label with David Byrne and Yale Evelev’s Luaka Bop responsible for the US release. Quite how the hook-up has occurred is not clear, but the album will be released in full in November.
For the time being, there is a short preview video of the lengthy “Silhouettes (I, II & III)” available to peruse below, while tomorrow the piece will be performed in full by Shepherd with an eleven-piece iteration of the Floating Points Ensemble, like at Dimensions Festival in Croatia and streaming online via Boiler Room. For the avid fans, the first 100 pre-orders of the album from the Floating Points store will also receive a unique print of the album artwork created on a harmonograph built by Shepherd himself, as being able to download the “Silhouettes” track in full immediately.
Pluto will release Elaenia by Floating Points on November 6.
Tracklisting:
1. Nespole
2. Silhouettes (I, II & III)
3. Argenté
4. Elaenia
5. Thin Air
6. For Marmish
7. Peroration Six