Floating Points – Crush

First, there is the composer whose debut album "Elaenia" received rave reviews in 2015, including as Pitchfork's "Best New Music" and Resident Advisor's "Album of the Year" - taking him from the dancefloors to festival stages around the world. Then there is the curator again, whose record labels have brought soulful new sounds to the club, and who has brought old sounds back to life on his treasured imprint Melodies International. There is also the traditionalist, the disco type who makes machine music, the digger who is always on the lookout for undiscovered gems for re-release. And then there is the DJ, whose open and at the same time courageous approach to the genre once made him play a 20-minute instrumental by spiritual jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders at Berghain .

Following the release of his compilation of sparkling, analogue ambient and atmospheric music for the acclaimed "Late Night Tales" series, Floating Points' first album in four years, "Crush", turns everything you think you know about him upside down. Nothing less than a popping thunderclap of electronic experimentalism', the title of which alludes to the slowly overboiling pressure cooker suggested by the current political confrontation in the world in which we currently find ourselves. Shepherd has produced some of his hardest and most driving tracks to date, with a focus on the British bass scene (from which he himself emerged in the late 2000s), such as the previously released striking lead single "LesAlpx" (Pitchfork's "Best New Track"). On "Crush", however, some of his most expressive songs can also be found: his characteristic melancholy can be found in the album's more sublime, softer moments or in the Buchla synthesizer, whose eerie modulation characterizes the album .

His new album feels instantaneous - and alive. It is the sound of the many sides of floating points that finally merge together. It refers to the "explosive" moments during his sets that usually occur when he throws unexpected genres together, for the simple reason that he is happy to "hear this record really loud now" and then put the needle on. It's "just like what happens when you play music at home with your friends and it spreads all over the room," he explains.

AllMusic rating: