Samuel Shepherd, known professionally as Floating Points, is a British electronic music producer, DJ, and musician. He is the founder of Pluto Records, co-founder of Eglo Records and leader of a 16-piece group called Floating Points Ensemble. He took over the 6 Music Artist in Residence radio slot on 15/07/24. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_6music

Biography

Raised in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England, Shepherd studied piano at

Chetham's School of Music Chetham's School of Music () is an independent co-educational music school in Manchester, England. Chetham's educates students between the ages of 8 and 18, all of whom enter via musical auditions. Students receive a full academic education alon ...

before receiving a PhD in

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

and

epigenetics In biology, epigenetics is the study of stable phenotypic changes (known as ''marks'') that do not involve alterations in the DNA sequence. The Greek prefix '' epi-'' ( "over, outside of, around") in ''epigenetics'' implies features that are "o ...

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

. He also worked as a DJ at Plastic People, a London club, in the late 2000s. In late 2008, Shepherd and Alexander Nut launched the Eglo record label. Eglo Records had released music by Floating Points, Fatima, Funkineven, Steve Spacek, Dego & Kaidi, Shafiq Husayn, K15, Mizz Beats, Natalie Slade, Destiny71z, Shy One, Henry Wu, Chunky and others. In 2010, Shepherd performed with a 16-piece live incarnation of Floating Points, entitled the Floating Points Ensemble. The group won an award for "Best

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

Maida Vale Session". In 2015, Shepherd founded Pluto records. He released projects such as Eleania, Kuiper, Crush, and Reflections: Mojave Desert from the label. Shepherd's musical influences include

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonically ...

, and

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...

. He began releasing work under the Floating Points moniker in 2008, and in 2017 toured with

The xx The xx are an English indie rock band from Wandsworth, London, formed in 2005. The band consists of Romy Madley Croft (guitar, vocals), Oliver Sim (bass guitar, vocals), Jamie Smith, also known as Jamie xx (beats, MPC, record production), a ...

. He has also remixed musicians such as Thundercat, Caribou,

Basement Jaxx Basement Jaxx are an English electronic music duo consisting of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe. The pair got their name from the regular club night they held in Brixton, London, UK. They first rose to popularity in the underground house scene ...

Skepta Chief Joseph Olaitan Adenuga Jr. (born 19 September 1982), known professionally as Skepta, is a British-Nigerian grime MC, rapper and record producer. Alongside his younger brother Jme, he briefly joined Roll Deep before they became founding ...

Headie One Irving Ampofo Adjei (born 6 October 1994), known professionally as Headie One (formerly Headz), is a British rapper and singer. In 2018 he released his second solo mixtape, titled ‘''The One’'', which included the single "Know Better" featur ...

Career

Shepherd's first release was the ''Vacuum EP'' in 2008 on Eglo Records. Over the next few years, he would continuously release EPs and singles on Eglo, but also other labels such as Planet Mu. Notable releases included 2011's ''Shadows EP'' and 2014's "''King Bromeliad''" / "''Montparnasse''". On 6 November 2015, Shepherd released the first Floating Points album - ''Elaenia''. Around its release, Shepherd launched an 11-piece live show and immediately sold-out a string of global live dates including headline shows at

Islington Assembly Hall Islington Assembly Hall is a live music venue and events space on Upper Street, Islington, London. It forms part of the Islington Town Hall complex. It has a capacity of 890 for live events, including seating for 200 in its balcony. Events other ...

and two dates at

Electric Brixton The Fridge was a nightclub in the Brixton area of South London, England, founded, in 1981, by Andrew Czezowski and Susan Carrington, who had run the The Roxy (Covent Garden), Roxy during punk music's heyday in 1977. The Fridge closed on 17 ...

in London. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, ''Elaenia'' received an average score of 85, based on 20 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Hamill Industries and Floating Points created the exhibition ‘Future Shocks’ at 180, The Strand in London in collaboration with FACT. The exhibition featured an installation by Hamill called “Vortex”. In 2017, Shepherd released ''Reflections: Mojave Desert''. The album recording was accompanied by a short film produced by long-time collaborator Anna Diaz Ortuño of Hamill Industries. The album was recorded in August 2016 in the

Mojave Desert The Mojave Desert ( ; mov, Hayikwiir Mat'aar; es, Desierto de Mojave) is a desert in the rain shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains in the Southwestern United States. It is named for the indigenous Mojave people. It is located primarily in ...

when Shepherd and his band were rehearsing for their upcoming US tour. Floating Points explained: "Whilst we were out playing and exploring the area around us – the sound reflecting from the rocks, the sound of the wind between them, complete stillness at night and packs of roaming coyotes in the distance, it became apparent that we could use this as its own unique recording environment”. On 29 March 2019, Shepherd contributed a DJ mix to the

Late Night Tales ''Late Night Tales'' and its predecessor ''Another Late Night'' are the names of two related series of artist-curated compilation albums released by Azuli Records in the UK until 2009 when the independent record label Night Time Stories took o ...

series. On 18 October 2019, Shepherd released the album ''Crush''. It received positive reception upon release. At

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from music publications, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 81 based on 16 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Shepherd embarked on a tour following the album's release, selling out shows at

Printworks Printworks may refer to: *Printworks (London), a nightclub and events space in Rotherhithe *The Printworks (Manchester) The Printworks is an urban entertainment venue offering a cinema, clubs and eateries, located on the corner of Withy Grove ...

, Elysee Montmartre, and Funkhaus. During lockdown, Shepherd collaborated with KDV Dance Ensemble and Boiler Room to host an interactive live stream on Zoom. He was Interviewed by New York Times. On 26 March 2021, Shepherd released a collaborative album with

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", San ...

and the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

, entitled Promises. It was nominated for the

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

2021 and reached #6 in the Official UK Albums Chart and #1 in the Official UK Vinyl Albums Chart. The album was released on New York label

Luaka Bop Luaka Bop is a New York–based record label founded by musician David Byrne, former lead singer and guitarist for the art rock– new wave band Talking Heads. What began with Byrne making cassettes of his favorite Tropicália tracks for his frien ...

. Sanders was impressed by ''Elaenia'' and befriended Shepherd, who was 40 years younger than him. Sanders proposed that they produce a collaborative album. Shepherd composed the music and played both electronic and non-electronic instruments. After Sanders' death in 2022, Shepherd put together a one-time live performance of the album at the

Hollywood Bowl The Hollywood Bowl is an amphitheatre in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It was named one of the 10 best live music venues in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 2018. The Hollywood Bowl is known for its distin ...

, conducted by

Miguel Atwood-Ferguson Miguel Atwood-Ferguson is a Los Angeles-based multi-instrumentalist, session musician, arranger, composer, music director, producer, DJ, orchestral conductor and educator. He has contributed to over 500 recordings and scored for television and fi ...

with an ensemble cast including Sam Shepherd,

Kieran Hebden Kieran Hebden (born September 1977), known as Four Tet, is an English electronic musician. He came to prominence as a member of the post-rock band Fridge (band), Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist with charting UK albums such a ...

Dan Snaith Daniel Victor Snaith (born March 29, 1978) is a Canadian composer, musician, and recording artist who has performed under the stage names Caribou, Manitoba, and Daphni. Career Snaith originally recorded under the stage name Manitoba, but afte ...

Shabaka Hutchings Shabaka Hutchings is a British jazz musician, composer and bandleader. He leads the bands Sons of Kemet and Shabaka and the Ancestors. He is also a member of The Comet Is Coming, performing under the stage name King Shabaka. Hutchings has p ...

, Kara Lis Coverdale, Hinako Omori. The Independent reviewed the performance, calling it “A near perfect body of music paired with a beautiful tribute” and gave it 4/5 stars. In 2022, Shepherd released the singles ''Vocoder'', ''Grammar'', ''Promises'', ''Birth4000'', and ''Someone Close.'' In 2023, Shepherd released ''Birth4000.'' He collaborated as a producer for Japanese American singer-songwriter

Hikaru Utada , who is also known by the mononym Utada, is a Japanese-American pop singer, songwriter and producer. By 2010, Utada had become one of the most influential, and best-selling, musical artists in Japan. Born in the United States to Japanese parent ...

album

Bad Mode is the eighth Japanese-language studio album (eleventh overall) by Japanese-American singer Hikaru Utada. It is also her first bilingual album release, with songs in both Japanese and English. It was released on the Sony Music Japan sublabel Epi ...

, working on the songs ''Bad Mode'', ''Kibunja Naino (Not In The Mood)'' and ''Somewhere Near Marseilles''. Shepherd composed an original score for

Mere Mortals Established in 1999, Mere Mortals was a British video game developer based in Newcastle upon Tyne. It announced its withdrawal from games in 2010 and confirmed that decision the next year, intending to work with internet, television and film. In a ...

for the

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Franc ...

which premiered on 26 January 2024. The ballet, featuring choreography from

Aszure Barton Aszure Barton is a Canadian-born choreographer. Career Aszure Barton was born and raised in Alberta, Canada. She received her formal training at the National Ballet School in Toronto, where, as a student, she helped originate the ongoing Steph ...

, contextualised the ancient parable of Pandora’s Box in AI. Shepherd worked with long-time creative collaborators Hamill Industries. The initial run of shows sold out. A second run is planned for April 2024.

Discography

Studio albums

*''

Elaenia ''Elaenia'' is a genus of passerine birds in the tyrant flycatcher family which occur in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. Except by voice, specific identification is often difficult since many species are very similar. They ...

'' (2015) *''Reflections – Mojave Desert'' (2017) *'' Crush'' (2019) *'' Promises'' (with

& the

) (2021) *''Cascade'' (2024)

Compilation albums

*'' Late Night Tales: Floating Points'' (2019)

EPs

*''Vacuum EP'' (2009) *''Shadows EP'' (2011) *''Kuiper'' (2016)

Singles

*"J&W Beat" (2009) *"Love Me Like This" (2009) *"For You" (2009) *"People's Potential" / "Shark Chase" (2010) *"Post Suite" / "Almost in Profile" (2010) (as Floating Points Ensemble) *"Sais (Dub)" (2011) *"Marilyn" (2011) *"Danger" (2011) *"Wires" (2013) *"King Bromeliad" / "Montparnasse" (2014) *"Sparkling Controversy" (2014) *"Nuits Sonores" / "Nectarines" (2014) *"Kuiper" (2016) *"For Marmish Part II" (2016) *"Silurian Blue" (2017) *"Ratio" (2017) *"LesAlpx" (2019) *"Last Bloom" (2019) *"Anasickmodular" (2019) *"Bias" (2020) *"Vocoder" (2022) *"Grammar" (2022) *"Problems" (2022) *"Someone Close" (2022) *"Birth4000" (2023) *"Del Oro" (2024) *"Key103" (2024)

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Floating Points English electronic musicians English experimental musicians Living people Luaka Bop artists Musicians from Manchester Ninja Tune artists 1986 births