Sam Shepherd studied classical piano before he started making brainy dance music as Floating Points. He still occasionally dips his toe back into the classical world, as when he collaborated with the London Symphony Orchestra and the late jazz legend Pharoah Sanders on the great 2021 album Promises. Now, Floating Points is getting into the ballet business.
Floating Points did the score for Mere Mortals, a show from the San Francisco ballet inspired by the myth of Pandora's box, and he played synth alongside the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra when it had its debut performance in January 2024. Last month, Floating Points shared "Falling To Earth," a 13-minute track from that score. Now, he's announcing a full album version of the Mere Mortals score.
"Her Gift," the latest track from the score, is an impressionistic six-minute instrumental. In a press release, Floating Points says, "Her Gift is a duet written for harp and Therevox ET 4.3. A dance between Epimetheus and Pandora: he is falling in love with her. Prometheus appears at the very end to warn his brother off his pursuit. The harpist on the recording is the incredibly talented Miriam Adefris, who performed with me on my last tour and taught me how to write for the harp." Check it out below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Movement 1 - Fire"
02 "Movement 2 - Hope"
03 "Movement 3 - Rage Of The Gods"
04 "Movement 4 - Zeus' Command"
05 "Movement 5 - Pandora's Creation"
06 "Movement 6 - Pandora's Theme"
07 "Gift From The Gods"
08 "Falling To Earth"
09 "Prometheus' Warning"
10 "Her Gift"
11 "Opening Of The Jar"
12 "A Plea"
13 "Hope Taking Flight"
14 "Nowhere To Land"
Mere Mortals is out 8/28 on Deutsche Grammophon.
