Sam Shepherd’s debut album, Elaenia, pieced together sporadically over a five year period has been a labour of love for the virtuoso producer and DJ. Renowned for his finely tuned productions, the 29 year old, who only last year was able to pursue a career in music full time after finishing his PhD in neuroscience, has produced a body of work that departs from much of his previous dance-floor focused rhythms, yet has still managed to retain the signature smoothness that is inherent throughout his discography.
As a DJ Floating Points has made a name for himself through his fantastical ability to blend the most far-fetched, obscure genres and his record collection is legendary. Gilles Peterson, for instance, once famously swapped his Japanese Mitsuoka car for Shepherd’s highly prized copy of a rare Bossa Nova 7-inch, João Donato's Amazonas. He is close friends with both Four Tet and Caribou and together they form a venerable trio that feed off each other’s creativity. This is why, considering Shepherd’s place among the dance music elite, it seems so surprising that it has taken him this long to bring out his first album. In line with his academia he still found time to orchestrate 3 labels, Eglo, Pluto and Melodies and through putting out music through these and other labels, Shepherd has developed a highly-acclaimed musical catalogue to add to his classically trained knowledge.
Whilst some may find the album short, (it contains only seven songs totalling just 43 minutes) each track has clearly been meticulously edited and re-recorded in Shepherd’s all-encompassing production style in which he writes, records, engineers and mixes his own music, along with directing the classical ensembles that he enlists to make his music that little bit more special. His obsession for detail led him to construct his own harmonograph, a Victorian piece of apparatus that synchronises the synthesisers on the track ‘For Mamish’ into the cover art for Elaenia, giving the album a visual identity intrinsically linked to the music. He has previously explained that the album was forged bearing a particular sonic aesthetic in mind too, when speaking to Resident Advisor Shepherd explained that, "this record is a body of work I felt belonged together and, despite being recorded across quite a protracted amount of time, it was made in this space with certain processes that were consistent throughout. The ideas were varied about it but there's a sonic cohesion to it all. Initially it was all going to be one 43-minute track.”
His self-proclaimed “megalomaniacal” tendencies are evident throughout the album in Shepherds masterful manipulation of space in his music. There is nothing that remains unrefined yet everything still sounds organic, with the fluidity one would expect from what was once one track chopped up into seven. Shepherd’s combination of analogue synthesizers and live instrumentation work in tandem to create a jazzy ambience, accompanied by velvety rhythmic sections clearly informed by his previous percussive forays in the dance-music world. This album, and the candid intimacy contained within it, has no concern for the dancefloor, yet contained within it there is introspection that verges on euphoric. ‘Argente’ for example, reaches a long and trance-like climax, incorporating an almost spiritual ascendency. If God’s elevator had a playlist then I’m pretty sure this would be on it.
What makes this album so special is its subtlety. With so many ebbs and flows the album never has any verifiable core or consistent 4/4 beat. There is a constant metamorphosis, like a tidal swell going from rapid retreat to full-on tsunami that requires your full listening attention to fully appreciate it. This is no accompaniment to a night out or soundtrack to your Costa coffee date. This is a full on experience in itself that deserves a dark room and loud speakers.
Ali Hares