Floating Points – Cascade (2024) [Official Digital Download 24bit/44,1kHz]

In recent years, Sam Shepherd’s work as Floating Points has ventured off the dancefloor in order to further explore traditional avenues of musical performance. In 2021, Shepherd released the gorgeously solemn Promises with the London Symphony Orchestra and the legendary jazz sax player Pharoah Sanders, who later passed away in September 2022 at 81. He also composed the music for Mere Mortals for the San Francisco Ballet, an artistic interpretation of Pandora’s jar which had two successful runs of shows in 2024.

After the weight of these offerings, it’s energizing to hear Shepherd return to the euphoria of loved-up, carefree raving on Cascade. His first album for London’s venerable Ninja Tune label since 2019’s Crush, Cascade is similarly focused on the rhythmic and vocal elements that bring parties across eras to a peak with or without psychedelics. The opening “Vocoder [Club Mix]” announces the intention to unleash propulsive beats that build like a DJ set, almost until the end. His melodic elements are always heady and also appropriate for just listening; after all, he has a PhD in neuroscience. The album draws down with “Ablaze,” a song that perhaps could have fit in with any of Shepherd’s last several works.

Floating Points has built a catalog of immense variety, yet he hasn’t lost a grip on the ability to move others in those most informal and involuntary ways. Even the stiffest booties have to feel and react to this talent of escapist, club-fantasy world-building. – Tamara Palmer

Tracklist:

1-1. Floating Points – Vocoder [Club Mix] (07:31)
1-2. Floating Points – Key103 (07:22)
1-3. Floating Points – Birth4000 (04:46)
1-4. Floating Points – Del Oro (06:14)
1-5. Floating Points – Fast Forward (07:38)
1-6. Floating Points – Ocotillo (08:43)
1-7. Floating Points – Afflecks Palace (06:38)
1-8. Floating Points – Tilt Shift (04:40)
1-9. Floating Points – Ablaze (03:57)