Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises – LP (Marble)

“Promises” is a 2021 collaborative studio album by British electronic musician Sam Shepherd, better known by his moniker Floating Points; American jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders; and the London Symphony Orchestra. It was released on 26 March 2021 under Luaka Bop.

Sam Shepherd, a British DJ, musician and producer, has produced numerous projects in the field of electronic music under the moniker Floating Points. The most recent Floating Points album, “Crush”, was released in 2019. “Promises“, on the other hand, is the first studio album released by Pharoah Sanders in over a decade.

Sanders first became aware of Shepherd‘s work in 2015 when he listened to the debut Floating Points album “Elaenia”. Sanders, who was 75 years old at the time, was impressed with the album. He later befriended Shepherd, who is 40 years his junior, over lunch and, eventually, proposed that the two of them produce a collaborative album. Shepherd composed the music and played numerous electronic and non-electronic instruments. He further enlisted the London Symphony Orchestra to perform arrangements he had written.

“Promises” is a celebration of sound at its finest and most pure: from the smallest scratch to cathartic crescendos, from spiralling improv to contemplative silences. Every note, whisper, bleep, and shift is significant. It is marvellously multifaceted but never obnoxious: a refreshing, one-of-a-kind conversation between jazz, classical, and electronic.

Luaka Bop

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