- Comparisons with classical music tend to crop up whenever electronic musicians work with big band arrangements, but that didn't feel like the best way to frame the London debut of Floating Points's live show. Though Sam Shepherd was flanked by an 11-piece ensemble on Tuesday night, he's never made the sort of clean-cut techno—à la Jeff Mills or Derrick May—that befits the added might of a string section. His singles and EPs, often sprinkled with rhodes or propped up by squirming acid basslines, have been more about arranging and playing with a few different sounds to maximum effect. And although his recent Elaenia album saw him move from the laptop to the studio, the LP's "tantalisingly out of reach" quality didn’t seem an obvious fit for the imposing power of an orchestra.
Once the band arrived onstage and the applause died down, the atmosphere in the Islington Assembly Hall was hushed and reverent. The first two numbers felt a bit shaky, with odd misfires and certain parts sounding awkwardly loud in the mix. During the opening moments of "Silhouettes," though, the band found their feet: Shepherd's crunchy keys and drum patterns interlocked with the rhythm section to his left to lay fertile ground for the strings and brass on his right. Aside from one or two dodgy moments—like a storming sax solo that veered dangerously close to the prog—the ten-minute piece was pure bliss. When it was over, the band and audience both seemed relieved that the performance was finally living up to expectation.
But the real magic was still to come. During "Thin Air" Shepherd played solo for a few minutes, using a modular synth to summon grainy bleeps and cymbals for a period of unwavering intensity that the band sustained through to the end of the show. Finishing with "Peroration Six," the entire band jammed in rapturous unison, sounding more like post-rock outfits Mogwai or Sigur Rós than any classical ensemble. It was a big shift from the delicate sparkle typified by 2011's "ARP3," and it also packed the kind of punch that Elaenia resisted. Like Floating Points's best work, it was totally entrancing.
Photo credit: Dan Medhurst