Bleep

Celebrating a decade since release the debut album from Floating Points brought to the table the culmination of his various takes on house, jazz and electronica with a scientific grounding and talent for production. Having started life in 2009 with four vastly unique singles that dabbled in a variety of different styles that were at once distant but all tied together with a slick sound and talent that vastly outweighed his discography, Floating Points showed he was a dab hand at hip-hop laden electronica as showcased on J&W Beat, disco laced funk as explored on Love Me Like This, beats from the Ninja Tune school of cold-cuts i.e. For You and a galaxy's worth of sparkling house as on Vacuum Boogie. Having gone on to produce a series of stunning and varied 12" singles since then it's not until now that he has finally opted to give us a proper full length in the form of Elaenia. Realised with an entire ensemble of musicians Elaenia is a varied and hugely strong album that sees Floating Points explore sounds previously unheard in his music while supplying a fresh and fully transformed vision of his music to date. Opening with a subtle synth melody that's more radiophonic workshop than Moodymann deep house Nespole slowly unfolds on itself with subtle piano keys and synth lines slowly shining through but with a restraint of tease that can't quite hold itself back, especially when the bass line bubbles underneath around the two and a half minute mark. The track carefully rolls along never giving away too much but building anticipation throughout. Silhouettes (I, II, III) follows suit with jazz-lead licks and soft drums across its three part body transitioning between library-lead jazz jamming and live instrumentation before the string section comes through giving nod to The Cinematic Orchestra and the finest soundtrack work of Egisto Macchi, an absolutely stunning track and a real culmination of everything he has produced to date. This is followed by the album's title track Elaenia which explores more darker territories of a one note drone and bass tone that expertly updates Eno's Thursday Afternoon. Argente goes back to the library influence with its cascading synth melody oscillating around before it suddenly disappears in a cloud of smoke dropping effortlessly into the robotic clockwork of Thin Air, its fast action shuffling percussion and half heard keys creating a quiet moment of experimentation that's both tense and exhilarating. The album caps off with two of the finest tracks Floating Points has ever put his name to in the form of the late night dreamlike For Marmish whose smooth notes sail through the reverb drenched definition which flourish in its melancholic glow while Peroration Six starts off on a hip-hop lead axis before breaking out into a stunning chord progressive number with atmospherics of a serious nature hiding underneath but as ever expertly engineered to ensure repeated listens. Ending the album and bringing the curtain down on whats sure to be one of the highlights of the year regardless of what you're in to.