Album Reviews

Luaka Bop

An unexpected collaboration between visionary artists is always an exciting thing, but when those artists are London dance music trailblazer, Floating Points, legendary spiritual jazz saxophonist, Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra, you know you’ll be taken to some wonderful, mysterious places. Promises, their single 46-minute track does not disappoint. Considering that it was in the making for over five years and that Floating Points once played Pharoah’s Harvest Time album in its entirety during a set in Berlin’s Berghain, it’s perhaps not as unexpected as I first made out. A beautiful, slowly evolving and emotive piece that draws on electronic, jazz and classical music without ever landing firmly on either. The record has a spirit of improvisation, with motifs catching a wave and taking us down unexpected paths, but then being tethered back in to its wonderfully composed heart. Hypnotic, meditative and dreamy throughout, Promises feels like an incredibly personal and intimate work. There is a closeness and warmth running throughout the whole record, with warm melodies, fluttering effects and shimmering tones falling over beautiful strings and impassioned saxophone. Subtle gear shifts give the record a natural ebb and flow, easing through different tones, textures and moods in the most elusive of ways. A masterclass in atmospheric crosspollination of musical styles, Promises’ warm, calm and peaceful serenity is the perfect antidote to real life 2021.

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Movements 1-9

9/10