Cascade

A set of bangers rich in colour and content, full to bursting with incident and energy, Sam Shepherd has made something rather special.

It’s Shepherd’s harnessing of electronic music’s power to tease your imagination to different places that makes Cascade such a wonderful club record.

In Cascade, Floating Points reclaims the dancefloor while elevating the genre beyond its traditional boundaries. It’s an album that celebrates the euphoria of dance music while also offering moments of introspection, all the while showcasing Shepherd’s unrivaled talent as both a producer and a composer.

Three years after exploring new dimensions in ambient jazz alongside Pharoah Sanders, Sam Shepherd refocuses his efforts on the dancefloor, with dazzling results.

Cascade is yet another marvelous Floating Points album, and easily the most successful work he's made as a dance producer.

There is also significant amounts of captivating detail and subtle shifts in mood and tone underneath the pure physicality of the beats that hog the spotlight on Cascade.

A resetting of the dials, it transplants the producer from symphony hall to sweaty club, and that alone makes it truly vital.

Pure pleasure with an experimental edge.

The delicious, Moroder breakbeat thump of Birth4000 and squealing garagey rave of Vocoder (Club Mix) have the swagger and heft to leave club soundsystems wobbling, but also need good headphones for home enjoyment.

Tech house thrills galore.

Superior selection of thoughtful floor-fillers.

Cascade may seem like a homecoming for Shepherd, but it’s unlikely that he’ll commit to the world of electronica for too long. Cherish it while you can, before he sets off on a completely different tangent once more.

With its meticulous beats and gorgeous synths, Cascade is undoubtedly one of the most satisfying electronic releases of the year.

Floating Points’ Cascade is a bassy, minimalistic swirl of house, techno, and ambiance to be enjoyed on the dancefloor or as the backdrop to solo introspection.