Floating Points – “Someone Close”

In 2021, Sam Shepherd, the UK producer known as Floating Points, teamed up with astral jazz legend Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra to release the stunning collaborative LP Promises. It was one of the year’s best albums, and it made for a powerful final statement from Sanders, who passed away in September. Since the release of that LP, Floating Points has come out with the singles “Vocoder,” “Grammar,” and “Problems.” Today, he’s got another one.

Next month, Floating Points will release all of his recent singles together on vinyl. In addition to the three that are already out, he’ll also include “Someone Close,” the new track that he’s shared today. The eight-minute instrumental builds on the sounds of disorientingly pretty synth-flutters, as a mournful saxophone levitates above everything. I don’t know if Sam Shepherd intended it this way, but it sounds like a goodbye to Sanders. Listen below.

Floating Points’ untitled vinyl EP is out 12/16 via Ninja Tune.