Floating Points & Pharaoh Sanders -- Promises (feat. The London Symphony Orchestra): Review

Floating Points & Pharaoh Sanders -- Promises (feat. The London Symphony Orchestra)

[Luaka Bop]

Promises is the unlikely collaboration of two sparsely different musicians: modern minimalist British house producer Floating Points AKA Sam Shepherd and legendary spiritual jazz pioneer and tenor sax legend Pharaoh Sanders. The two of them come together on Promises with a composition backed by the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) that has been received with universal acclaim.

Honestly, even as a fan of each of these artists before this, I could not have expected this collaboration to happen. But apparently the connection started in 2015 when Sanders caught wind of the Shepherd’s debut LP under Floating Points titled Elaenia and was impressed. From there, Sanders contacted Shepherd and after a bit of conversation, they decided they’d like to do a collaborative project.

While Shepherd has been on a streak as of late with critically-acclaimed debut and then the follow-up Crush in 2019, Pharaoh Sanders hasn’t worked on a studio album in over a decade. So like everyone else, I had no idea what to expect. A collaboration between a classically-trained producer, an experimental jazz legend, and the London Symphony Orchestra? Interests were piqued across all the scenes surrounding each collaborator. And when the record was released, we were happy to know that all the attention it got was more than warranted.

Promises is a hard record to describe. The album is made of one 45-minute long composition split into nine movements composed by Shepherd, who also plays pianos, synths, and keyboards. The genre is what I can only describe as an ambient symphony, that features a taste of neo-psychedelia, contemporary classical, and--with Pharaoh Sanders’s help--spiritual jazz. It’s hard to try and condense the immense scale of this record into words without picking it apart step by step.

“Movement 1” opens with this short but sweet motif played by Shepherd, introducing this delicate but warm sense of wonder that will guide the mood of the entire record. As the motif repeats, Sanders enters with feathery saxophone phrases glide across the mix like waves lapping on a moonlit beach. The motif continues, never sounding the same twice, as the whispering strings of the LSO coats the walls of your ears.

“Movement 2” continues with similar instrumentation as the preceding movement but with a heightened sense of tension. The saxophone licks ring more like wailing than whispers and the string sections cut hard like beams of the northern lights slicing across the deep, dark sky. Conversely, “Movement 3” is a synth-forward section where Shepherd uses a bundle of vocal synths to deliver a surprisingly human element. The timid mutter of the lead synth sounds like a church choir’s young male lead, quiet but spry, weak but nimble.

Sanders enters “Movement 4” with wordless vocal inflections that reach right into your ear, contrasting the immense space built by echoing strings and reverberating tenox sax. The saxophone lines are more kinetic, and imply a sense of progression as it bursts into “Movement 5.” This movement is a final movement in the first half of the record, but paints a starkly different landscape than the beginning. As opposed to the opener, “Movement 5” features prideful sax lines that prances like a yelping puppy, eager to play.

It was here that I interpreted the sense of emotional progression on Promises. Each movement feels like another step on an intense spiritual journey, like climbing a mountain to its peak. The different plateaus and moods reflect the feelings of hesitation and determination that conflict within the music.

And the tumultuous journey reaches a point of unparalleled momentum in “Movement 6,” where the listener is delivered the strongest string sections on the record. Shepherd and Sanders stand aside to let different coalitions of the orchestra flush within the mix, to create the most awesome musical experience I’ve heard this year. The whole song is a slow emotional build, adding more harmonies and volume with each runaround on the motif. At this point in the journey, there’s this feeling of meditation and melancholy when looking back. The overwhelming sense of forward motion on this album is utterly beautiful and definitely makes for one of the most gripping moments on the record and maybe all year.

The elastic tension of the preceding track stretches and stretches until into silence, and the comforting solace left in the wake opens “Movement 7,” the longest part of Promises. The track leads with a gentle saxophone lead charged with feelings of lament and regret. But as the song progresses, these kaleidoscopic synth textures begin to surround the mix until the motif of the album completely drops out. Unlike the musical warmth in the preceding track, “Movement 7” feels like witnessing the all-knowing and all-encompassing power of a higher being, and the buzzing collage of warbling synth tones represent the humble human senses, trying to interpret the beauty. Just when the sight of God seems like too much to bear, Sanders’s glorious saxophone and the comforting musical motif rise from the dust and guide the listener back to Earth.

“Movement 8” is the soulful comedown from the preceding track, using whirring organs to carry the listener after almost being consumed by the climax of the journey. A familiar form of the motif returns, but is eerily unlike the original, like the status quo after witnessing the spiritual peak will never be the same. As the movement progresses, holy organs overcome the mix, shrouded in delay and reverb like a spiritual vision. The organs increase in volume enough to shake the ground until suddenly--silence.

The coda comes after a false ending with “Movement 9,” echoing earlier melodies to cap-off the album. The shrill strings hit like an epiphany has been reached, and the purpose of the journey in Promises has been fulfilled. The album’s meta-journey was not to change the game or reinvent the wheel however. No, the purpose of Promises is for two unlikely collaborators to share a bit of the best sides of themselves in a beautiful, spiritual, and cinematic journey. No, I don’t think the album is perfect, and it’s fine that it isn’t. What Promises brings is its unique appreciation of several genres, and combining them into a fantastic listening experience.

8.8/10.

Listen To: The Whole Thing or “Movement 6”

RIYL: Pharoah Sanders, John Coltrane