Cascade＜限定盤/Universal Sparkle Colored Vinyl＞

Floating Points Sam Shepherd earned an enormous amount of attention and praise for Promises, his revelatory collaboration with Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra. The albums patient, slowly billowing soundscapes were far removed from his previous full-length, Crush, an often-playful set of experimental techno tracks and ambient pieces. He had wanted to explore the albums danceable side during live performances, but the COVID-19 pandemic curtailed those plans. In between work on a score for the San Francisco Ballet and preparation for a Hollywood Bowl performance of Promises in memory of Sanders, Shepherd continued making club tracks using a Buchla and other analog synths. Singles like "Vocoder" and "Problems" trickled out and were well-received, and Cascade is an entire full-length in this direction. A "club mix" of "Vocoder" opens the set, demonstrating Shepherds skill at crafting tightly engineered festival bangers. Most of the albums other tracks maintain the same level of propulsion, but he allows them to be more melodic and psychedelic, with "Key103" and the breaky, acid-laced "Afflecks Palace" verging on trance. "Birth4000" sounds like a raw, filter-heavy update of Moroder-esque electro-disco, and the supremely lovely "Fast Forward" blooms with heavenly spiraling arpeggios. "Del Oro" is more of a taut garage shuffle, with sparkling synth tones in the beginning and an organ bassline and snare rushes during the second half. "Ocotillo" is a rapidly pulsing progressive electronic track which takes more than five minutes to encounter some electronic disturbances and erupt into a jittery beat. "Tilt Shift" surprisingly ramps up the tempo to skittering drumnbass, while the accompanying textures conjure up a haunting mood. "Ablaze" ends the album with a quiet, string-driven comedown. Cascade is yet another marvelous Floating Points album, and easily the most successful work hes made as a dance producer. ~ Paul Simpson

彼のDJプレイを体感したことがあるなら驚いたりしないのだろうが、作品だけを追ってきたリスナーならきっと面食らうのではなかろうか。フローティング・ポインツことサム・シェパードの5年ぶりとなるオリジナル作品はなかなかに骨太なダンス・ミュージック路線。女性ヴォーカルをチョップしたカットアップ・ハウス"Vocoder(Club Mix)"、哀愁ズンドコ・エレクトロ"Birth4000"、海底を潜り続けるダーク・テクノ"Del Oro"など、完全に振り切ったサウンドはもはや潔し。宇多田ヒカルのプロデュース仕事も素晴らしかったが、〈多才〉の一言で片づけてしまうには深すぎる懐に脱帽であります。
bounce (C)野村有正