Six minutes into Silhouettes (I, II & III), Floating Points’ 10-minute cosmic opus, saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings stands up out of his chair, the crowd urging him on, and starts playing. As clattering drums propel the song forward, Hutchings riffs over washes of strings and a cooing choir from Goldsmiths. It’s a heady brew, enveloping the venue in euphoria.
Sat calmly at the centre of all of this is Floating Points himself, the unassuming Sam Shepherd, perched behind a pile of synths and machines as he orchestrates the 11-piece band around him. Tonight is the first UK gig to showcase Elaenia, his debut album. Comprised of seven “suites”, it’s a sophisticated and detailed collection, pin-drop quiet at times and building delicately at others. Live, it feels as if it’s being coloured in; the strings and brass broaden the sound, adding verve and intensity.
Crucially, though, the songs remain as warm and fluid as on record. Movements bleed beautifully into each other, as the band skilfully improvise around the structures. As tracks such as Argenté and For Marmish blossom from gentle drumbeats into pounding electro, strings and bleeps intertwine with each other, and a laser spirograph creates hypnotising shapes on a white, moonlike backdrop.
Shepherd made his name as a DJ at London’s now-defunct Plastic People (his friends Four Tet and Caribou are in the crowd tonight). Yet this is something different – at times closer to the post-rock of Explosions in the Sky, at others throbbing and pulsating as something more electronic. Throughout, the energy continues to mount until, suddenly, the intense hour of sound is over.
Shepherd has a PhD in neuroscience, which is often the focus of any press coverage. But tonight doesn’t feel scientific. It feels wonderfully human.
