Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders: Promises (LP)

The album was composed and produced by Sam Shepherd aka Floating Points, whose sophomore album Crush was named Best New Music by Pitchfork, appeared in the New York Times and placed him on several 2019 critics lists. His debut album Elaenia, released on Luaka Bop, was also named Best New Music and hailed as one of the best debuts of the decade. It is also the release that brought Pharoah Sanders to work with him. Shepherd is a restless, ever-evolving producer and composer who has toured with The xx and also holds a doctorate in neuroscience. For Pharoah Sanders, who recently turned 80, this is a rare outing and his first album in fifteen years. One of the last icons of his generation, Pharoah played with John Coltrane on his late free jazz masterpieces and released a series of expansive recordings under his own name for the Impulse! label, cited as a key influence by everyone from The Stooges to Marvin Gaye. Most recently, he was featured on a 2020 Supreme campaign. The music unfolds patiently over nine movements and 46 ever-expanding minutes. It's a work of pure feeling, like no other record you'll hear this or any other year.