Floating Points
Known on dancefloors and tastefully progressive U.K. radio programs as Floating Points, producer and DJ Sam Shepherd has applied his love for gritty funk, slick R&B, and avant-garde jazz to house, techno, and orchestral compositions that have tended to be equally stimulating through club sound systems and headphones. After trickling out tracks for several years, the project broke through to a wider audience with the full-length Elaenia (2015), a richly produced album that, for many, served as an introduction to Shepherd's hybrid style. His wider-scoped works since then include the more synth-focused Crush (2019) and Promises (2021), a collaboration with Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra. Cascade, a kinetic full-length primarily consisting of club tracks, appeared in 2024.
Shepherd launched Floating Points in 2008 by releasing some white-label singles plus a bootleg remix of Sun Ra's "I'll Wait for You." BBC DJ Gilles Peterson picked up on both and featured the two tracks on his Worldwide radio program. Even though Shepherd was finishing his PhD in neuroscience, he found time in 2009 to partner with Rinse FM left-field DJ Alexander Nut and form Eglo, a label that became revered for releases from the likes of FunkinEven and frequent Shepherd collaborator Fatima. Among Shepherd's own early highlights for the label were cuts like "Vacuum Boogie" and "Peoples Potential."
The producer's output became increasingly spacious and musical, as heard in the progression traced through cuts such as "Sais," "King Bromeliad," and "Nuits Sonores." Additionally, Shepherd led the 16-member Floating Points Ensemble for a Ninja Tune single and BBC Maida Vale session that bridged 4hero's chamber soul and the work of contemporary West Coast arranger/composer Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. In 2015, after over a dozen releases and roughly as many remixes, Shepherd released the debut Floating Points album, Elaenia, through his Pluto label in the U.K. and David Byrne's Luaka Bop in the U.S. It was celebrated by almost every outlet that covered it, including Resident Advisor, whose staff declared the album the best of the year. In 2016, after Katy B's Honey sported a track produced by Shepherd and Kieran Hebden, Floating Points returned with Kuiper, an expansive two-track EP. That August, just prior to a U.S. tour, Shepherd and his band rehearsed, recorded, and were filmed in the Mojave Desert. The visit was documented with Reflections: Mojave Desert, a heavier affair released the following June.
In 2019, Shepherd participated in the ongoing Late Night Tales series, creating a DJ mix that included work of his own as well as deep-cut ambient, jazz, and global soul selections. Later that year he released Crush, his second studio album, on Ninja Tune. A raw and uncompromising blast of experimental -- yet accessible -- electronica, it was inspired by his solo live experiments on a Buchla modular synth while opening for the xx. Floating Points returned to Luaka Bop in 2021 with Promises, a nine-movement work created with Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra, featuring artwork by Julie Mehretu. He returned to club material with a series of singles for Ninja Tune, including "Vocoder" and "Problems," which were collected on the vinyl EP 2022. Shepherd continued in this direction with Cascade, his 2024 full-length, which followed the more club-driven mode of Crush.
© David Jeffries & Andy Kellman /TiVo
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Discography
37 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Crush
Electronic - Released by Ninja Tune on Oct 18, 2019
Pitchfork: Best New MusicAvailable in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Promises
Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders
Electronic - Released by Luaka Bop on Mar 26, 2021
4F de TéléramaPitchfork: Best New MusicAvailable in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
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Someone Close
Electronic - Released by Ninja Tune on Nov 9, 2022
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
King Bromeliad / Montparnasse
Electronic - Released by Pluto on Jun 23, 2014
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Nuits Sonores / Nectarines
Electronic - Released by Pluto on Dec 8, 2014
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
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Late Night Tales: Floating Points
Electronic - Released by Late Night Tales on Mar 29, 2019
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Vacuum Boogie (EP)
Electronic - Released by Pluto on Jun 30, 2009
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
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LesAlpx / Coorabell
Electronic - Released by Ninja Tune on Jul 12, 2019
Available in24-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Reflections - Mojave Desert
Electronic - Released by Luaka Bop on Jun 30, 2017
Available in16-Bit/96 kHz Stereo -
Marhaba
Maalem Mahmoud Guinia, Floating Points, James Holden
World - Released by Border Community on Apr 20, 2015
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo -
Post Suite/Almost In Profile
Electronic - Released by Ninja Tune on Dec 20, 2010
Available in16-Bit/44.1 kHz Stereo