(2017) Floating Points - Reflections; Mojave Desert

Review:
At one point in Reflections: Mojave Desert, a short film released in conjunction with Floating Points’ soundtrack, director Anna Diaz Ortuño films Sam Shepherd swinging what looks like a satellite dish in circles in the middle of the arid California landscape. It’s for the recording of the interstitial track “Kites,” wherein Shepherd rotates a parabolic Telinga microphone, generally used for field recordings, to capture the sound of an EMS Synthi as it bounces off a constellation of rock structures. A curious thing happens across the track’s brief three minutes: It’s when the mic is turned away from the source that it sounds most natural, rather than when it faces the clear signal.
It’s precisely the kind of inversion of sound and expectations that Floating Points has mastered in a few short years. In the midst of dubstep’s rapid expansion in the late 2000s, the UK electronic musician first emerged with an emphasis on wiggly boogie, but just as listeners became accustomed to his sound, Shepherd began testing the limits of his own style, peaking with 2015’s cosmic jazz-infused Elaenia. Reflections – Mojave Desert is arguably his most ambitious recording to date, if only because he availed himself of the Mojave Desert itself as his recording studio.
Clocking in at under half an hour, the soundtrack shows Floating Points in a transitional phase, moving from the larger ensembles he took out on the road to support Elaenia to a more streamlined five-piece that fleshes out Shepherd’s vintage keyboards with two guitarists, bassist, and drummer. “Silurian Blue” shows just what an expansive sound the new lineup is capable of. 

Tracklist:
01 Mojave Desert.flac
02 Silurian Blue.flac
03 Kites.flac
04 Kelso Dunes.flac
05 Lucerne Valley.flac

Summary:
Country: USA
Genre: electronic, post-rock