Floating Points has so many guises that it’s not easy to pin him down. There’s the composer whose 2015 debut album Elaenia was met with rave reviews – including being named Pitchfork’s ‘Best New Music’ and Resident Advisor’s ‘Album of the Year’ – and took him from dancefloors to festival stages worldwide. The curator whose record labels have brought soulful new sounds into the club, and, on his esteemed imprint Melodies International, reinstated old ones. The classicist, the disco guy that makes machine music, the digger always searching for untapped gems to re-release. And then there’s the DJ whose liberal approach to genre saw him once drop a 20-minute instrumental by spiritual saxophonist Pharoah Sanders in Berghain.
Fresh from the release earlier this year of his compilation of lambent, analogous ambient and atmospheric music for the esteemed Late Night Tales compilation series, Floating Points’ first album in four years, Crush, twists whatever you think you know about him on its head again. A tempestuous blast of electronic experimentalism whose title alludes to the pressure-cooker of the current environment we find ourselves in. As a result, Shepherd has made some of his heaviest, most propulsive tracks yet, nodding to the UK bass scene he emerged from in the late 2000s, such as the dystopian low-end bounce of previously shared striking lead single ‘LesAlpx’ (Pitchfork’s ‘Best New Track’), but there are also some of his most expressive songs on Crush: his signature melancholia is there in the album’s sublime mellower moments or in the Buchla synthesizer, whose eerie modulation haunts the album.
"A more complete picture of his artistic outlook, bringing his club sensibilities back into the mix while also feeling like the most relaxed and confident Floating Points effort to date." - Pitchfork ‘Best New Music’ (8.3)
“The producer’s dazzling, freeform album bristles with angular melodies” - The Guardian/Observer (4/5)
“Crush is an insight into Shepherd’s brilliant mind and – such is the sheer variety of this album – a way to inspire one’s own imagination.” - The Independent (4/5)
“Crush sounds utterly fabulous. Rich with detail, suffused with warmth” - Mixmag ‘Album of the Month’ (9/10)
“Shepherd has managed to capture both the febrile chaos and decaying beauty of the world we’re living in” - Crack Magazine (8/10)
"Put simply, Crush is a triumph" - DIY Mag (4/5)
“Shepherd’s most eclectic album to date, a richly pleasurable balancing act between brain and body, academic seminar and nightclub, cerebral experiment and sensory feast” - Uncut (8/10)
“One of 2019’s most sublime electronic albums” - Clash
“Floating Points returns to his roots on the dazzling Crush” - The Line of Best Fit (8/10)
“Shepherd’s withdrawal into a world of software programmes and synthesisers has not made his music any less expansive or texturally impressive.” - Financial Times (4/5)
"Whatever wavelength Shepherd is on, Crush is the almost untouchable proof that no-one else is anywhere near it" - Loud and Quiet (9/10)
“Crush takes the listener through the light and dark portions of the active listening mind, further proving Floating Points as a singularly talented producer.” - The 405 (8.5/10)
"One of electronic music’s most intriguing producers…an album of equal parts wonder and alarm from an endlessly probing creative mind" - The Quietus
“Shimmering synths that see Floating Points at his ethereal best.” - The Vinyl Factory
“Crush is packed with life” - Evening Standard (4/5)
“Crush greets us with a blinding intensity quite unlike what we’ve heard before.” - Inverted Audio
“...sinking into its rich and deeply layered textures reaps countless rewards.” - The Skinny (4/5)
“There are few artists in the modern electronic music landscape who have found their way into being so universally loved like Floating Points.” - Magnetic Magazine
“Crush is further proof of Floating Points’ undeniable ability to make electronic experimentalism sound so good” - Future Music ‘Album of the Month’ (9/10)
“an ecstasy-inducing moment” - Resident Advisor
“… a gently thumping ambient beauty before diving into deep rhythmic experimentation, showcasing the improvisational spark of Shepherd’s performance.”
- Stereogum
“a peak time banger as only Floating Points can make - surging, melodic, and impactful, it also surprises at every turn.”
- Clash
“Floating Points unzips new dimensions with ‘Anasickmodular’”
- The 405
