-=- SHGZ -=-
* Shoegaze * Indie * Post-Rock * Grunge * Dream Pop * Psych-Rock * Ethereal *
ARTIST..: Floating Points
ALBUM...: Reflections - Mojave Desert
GENRE...: Electronic
STYLE...: Progressive Electronic, Film Soundtrack, Downtempo
STYLE...: Ambient, Progressive Rock, Post-Rock, Psychedelic Rock
YEAR....: 2017
LABEL...: Pluto
COUNTRY.: United Kingdom
PLACE...: London, Greater London
BORN....: 21 May 1986, Manchester, Greater Manchester
ENCODER.: FLAC 1.3.1 -8 -V
BITRATE.: 715 kbps avg
QUALITY.: 44.1kHz / 2 channels
SOURCE..: CD
TRACKS..: 5
SIZE....: 148.03 MB
URL..: https://www.facebook.com/floatingpoints
https://www.floatingpoints.co.uk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floating_Points
https://ninjatune.net/artist/floating-points
https://floatingpoints.bandcamp.com/album/reflections-mojave-desert
https://rateyourmusic.com/release/ep/floating-points/reflections-mojave-desert.p/
https://www.luakabop.com/products/floating-points-reflections-mojave-desert-1
https://boomkat.com/products/reflections-mojave-desert
https://soulfeederweb.com/reviews/floating-points-reflections-mojave-desert-album-review
https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/77777-floating-points-reflections-mojave-desert.php
https://www.clashmusic.com/reviews/floating-points-reflections-mojave-desert/
https://bleep.com/release/83426-floating-points-reflections-mojave-desert
https://www.nts.live/shows/floating-points
- TRACKLIST
1 Mojave Desert 2:28
2 Silurian Blue 6:37
3 Kites 3:01
4 Kelso Dunes 10:51
5 Lucerne Valley 3:35
Total Playtime: 26:32
The project started simply because we were on tour with the band, had just
finished FYF fest in LA, and had a week before picking up the rest of the
tour in phoenix. on the way we stopped for a week near Joshua Tree National
Park. the idea was to go somewhere fairly remote and setup to rehearse. it
was peak summer, so we setup outside and would be playing throughout the day
and night. (see super 8 footage). Whilst we were out playing and exploring
the area around us - the sound reflecting from the rocks, the sound of the
wind between them, complete stillness at night and packs of roaming coyotes
in the distance, It became apparent that we could use this as its own unique
recording environment.
Anna in our crew creates the projections for our live show, but is
predominantly a film maker. We made a few calls to friends in LA and borrowed
some film/sound gear and recorded some of the new music that came out of the
rehearsals.
Through the process of making this record, we decided to start a series of
musical & video explorations in interesting locations, where the music is a
function of its surroundings. This first experiment only marks the beginning
in this idea, and am currently seeking new interesting acoustic environments
to explore. - Sam Shepherd (Floating Points)
*
As the name suggests, Floating Points are hard to pin down. One iteration of
Sam Shepherd's outfit consists of banging DJ sets with Four Tet and Caribou;
the first album, Elaenia (2015), by contrast, consisted of an immersive
tableau of drones, jazz and analogue burbles. Its equally involving successor
relocates from London to the Mojave desert with a live band; a short film
accompanies the release. Big skies and windswept topographies inform this
record, which is as much about its process (swinging surround-sound
microphones) as it is about the finished product. It's less jazz and
neoclassical than its predecessor, and more space rock - tracks such as Kelso
Dunes introduce motorik beats into Shepherd's modus operandi to no ill
effect.
*
- Sam Shepherd and his ensemble incorporate the vast, rocky landscape of the
California desert into the very fabric of their ambient post-rock. -
At one point in Reflections - Mojave Desert, a short film released in
conjunction with Floating Points' soundtrack, director Anna Diaz Ortu o films
Sam Shepherd swinging what looks like a satellite dish in circles in the
middle of the arid California landscape. It's for the recording of the
interstitial track "Kites," wherein Shepherd rotates a parabolic Telinga
microphone, generally used for field recordings, to capture the sound of an
EMS Synthi as it bounces off a constellation of rock structures. A curious
thing happens across the track's brief three minutes: It's when the mic is
turned away from the source that it sounds most natural, rather than when it
faces the clear signal.
It's precisely the kind of inversion of sound and expectations that Floating
Points has mastered in a few short years. In the midst of dubstep's rapid
expansion in the late 2000s, the UK electronic musician first emerged with an
emphasis on wiggly boogie, but just as listeners became accustomed to his
sound, Shepherd began testing the limits of his own style, peaking with
2015's cosmic jazz-infused Elaenia. Reflections - Mojave Desert is arguably
his most ambitious recording to date, if only because he availed himself of
the Mojave Desert itself as his recording studio.
Clocking in at under half an hour, the soundtrack shows Floating Points in a
transitional phase, moving from the larger ensembles he took out on the road
to support Elaenia to a more streamlined five-piece that fleshes out
Shepherd's vintage keyboards with two guitarists, bassist, and drummer.
"Silurian Blue" shows just what an expansive sound the new lineup is capable
of. It opens with Shepherd playing a dulcet chiming melody as guitarists
Matthew Kirkis and Alex Reeve sidle alongside him with long, sustained tones.
Gathering momentum, the piece moves from placid to soaring in two minutes,
with Leo Taylor's drums briefly holding it all together before the sounds
drift apart again like dust, as Shepherd's keys settle into a rich,
church-like organ tone. It's a far cry from the house and garage with which
he made his name: When he swoops back in for the track's climax, certain
heads may find themselves waiting for "Shine on You Crazy Diamond" to burst
forth at any moment.
Watching the band move between ambient and anthemic instrumental rock against
the otherwise de-peopled backdrop of the Mojave Desert, it's hard not to have
your mind drift to Pink Floyd's own iconic concert film, 1972's Live at
Pompeii. (Floyd-ting Points, anyone?) And while neither guitarist approaches
David Gilmour's ability to electrify such spacy music with emotional
intensity, Floyd never had a drummer to match the speed and fury of Taylor,
who seems almost tireless in his incessant, ever-evolving rhythms.
Floating Points has always been especially attentive to the way sound exists
in space; many of his most electrifying moments take place along the
periphery of silence. Here, the painstaking way he details the psychoacoustic
properties of the landscape is remarkable. While "Kites" might at first seem
like a mere interlude, playback on headphones situates you in the remarkable
headspace of the desert, evoking the kind of calm most modern urban listeners
rarely experience. As Shepherd swings the mic, distant echo and miles-off
reverb color the distant arpeggios of that synth situated on the rocks.
Listen deeper and the smallest of sounds also arise, like the crunching of
rocks under Shepherd's feet as he moves through the space; the very breath of
the desert is made audible. The result is transportive and supremely
psychedelic.
Only two tracks arise from brief moments of desert ambience to become fully
fleshed-out pieces. The soundtrack's longest track, "Kelso Dunes," is built
up from the arpeggios that "Kites" put into relief, now incorporated into the
full band setting. Susumu Mukai's restrained bass is the first to engage
Shepherd's shimmering theme, giving just enough space for Taylor's motoric
drums to push through. Shepherd's synthesized swirls widen and the guitars
pick up velocity. At seven minutes, Shepherd eases off the pedal and the
sound is suddenly infused with crisp desert air. You can almost hear the
group draw a breath before lighting out on another flight. The intensity that
Floating Points attains at the peak of "Kelso Dunes" is exhilarating: You
almost hear the small group achieving liftoff and floating a few feet off the
desert ground.
*
With three EPs already under his belt but just the one full length record to
his name, Sam Shepherd of Floating Points has made a good go at carving out a
burgeoning and extremely well-respected niche for himself so far, and the
release of this latest short film and soundtrack, Reflections - Mojave
Desert, sees him flexing his creative muscles to fine effect yet again.
Aside from a formal training in piano, a fondness for jazz and a knack for
orchestration, Shepherd also has a pHd in epigenetics and neuroscience from
University College London. It's a sign perhaps of his analytical mind that
he's drawn to constructing complex, freeform soundscapes that are this far
ranging and sweeping. Often there's a misconception that art and science
cannot possibly sit together, that the two are mutually exclusive, but
Shepherd's output is constant, cast iron proof that there's beauty to be
found from those involved in even the most complex disciplines.
On his 2015 debut studio album Elaenia, Shepherd took the aural exploration
of urban cityscapes in the small hours of the morning to new levels - the
record was am ambient, exhilarating delve into the workings of modern human
society, a stroll through the confusing beauty of the twenty-first century.
With Reflections, it seems that the focus on environment which Shepherd finds
himself increasingly attuned with has been shifted and taken to its next
logical step.
The first in a planned series to be filmed and recorded at different
locations around the world, the new offering was crafted in breaks from US
touring in the arid, alien landscape of the Mojave Desert itself, where the
newly expanded live band found themselves laying down tracks live at the base
of the monolithic rock structures that pepper the landscape.
The record itself is accompanied by a short film, in collaboration with
director Anna Diaz Ortu o, which sees the ensemble enacting their thrilling
sonic exploration of environment under an endless desert sky. Perhaps more
interesting, though, is the curious, other-worldly majesty conjured by the
record when consumed as a standalone piece. Indeed, in places Reflections...
treads cautiously into the realms of progressive rock, but admittedly with
fewer capes and much more restraint. There remains, however, a knack for
painting with sound - images and landscapes whipped into existence with a
stunning array of analogue and digital vocalisations.
The longer, cyclical, jams are perhaps the high points of the record. It
might be rose-tinted romanticism but on 'Kelso Dunes' there's a undeniable
sense of open sky, expanding horizons, hot winds dragging themselves across
shifting sands and small skittering beasts disappearing into cracks in the
rocks. The addition of a continuous mix of the full soundtrack as the final
song somewhat renders the individual tracks a little pointless. This is how
Reflections... is meant to be consumed - one epic, swirling, shifting body of
work, like the desert itself. This juxtaposition of form is a nice idea in
theory, but somewhat of a double-edged sword in practice, with both
approaches lacking the immediacy of connection it was easy to feel with his
urban-centred opus.
As an exercise in creativity, musical form, experimentation and sheer art,
then, Reflections... is to be commended, but as a standalone body of work
it's somewhat lacking in the substance, sculpted precision, urgency and depth
that made Elaenia such an enthralling proposition. It remains to be seen how
this will fit into a canon with the rest of Shepherd's environmental series,
but he remains one of the most intriguing, thoughtful and intellectual new
musical pioneers the UK currently has to offer.
*
Covering nearly 48,000 square miles of land and punctuated by Joshua trees, a
species native only to its arid land, the Mojave is the driest desert in the
United States. Last August Sam Shepherd, the mastermind behind Floating
Points, and his band retreated to the scorched landscape to rehearse before
venturing out an upcoming tour. What perhaps they didn't realise at the time
was that the Mojave would transform itself into an additional band member.
During recording, Shepherd and co harnessed the natural soundscape and
reflections from the area, using their surroundings as a unique recording
setting. These effects are captured on a mini-album that reflects the
sometimes contrasting facets of the Mojave in both its sweeping splendour and
more secluded corners. The barren sands are evoked as early as the first few
seconds, where dusty, windswept noise is accompanied by waves of synths that
conjure images of the dunes and the stillness of the cold night. With
'Kites,' the looping synthesiser melody bends and changes tempo, sometimes
weaving higher and lower into the mix as if representing the distant echoes
from mountains and valleys.
While these tracks are suggestive of smaller details found within the desert,
the sheer magnitude of the Mojave is reflected in 'Silurian Blue,' where
delicate, twinkling electronica sidles up to squalling, rapturous guitar and
jazz-inflected drums that give way to more hushed percussive elements. It's
the perfect combination of intimacy and grandeur, which encapsulates each
asset of the expansive wastes, as well as everything that makes Floating
Points captivating, into an atmospheric, seven-minute opus.
Digested as a whole, 'Mojave Desert' is as fluid and enveloping as the
landscape itself, a mystical, spiritual and arresting nexus point between the
natural world and sound. As the first in a series of site-specific musical
works and films, it makes a soaring statement.
-=- SHGZ -=-
-=-=-==-=-=-
Post-rock
is a subgenre of experimental rock
characterized by the exploration of textures and
timbres as well as non-rock styles, often with minimal or
no vocals, placing less emphasis on conventional song structures
or riffs than on atmosphere for musically evocative purposes.
Post-rock artists can often combine rock instrumentation
and rock stylings with electronics and digital
production as a means of enabling the
exploration of textures, timbres
and different
styles.
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