Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra

Promises

there’s an unpredictability about ‘promises’ which gives this project a distinct edge. there aren’t many creations similar to ‘promises’, as it seems to be a one of a kind mix of ambient, orchestral, and jazz music.

it seems that it is challenging for pharaoh sanders to go slow, as floating points practically demands for the ambient product to be a far reaching, understated soundscape.

an instrumental drama builds throughout the album. london symphony ... read more

I have barely reviewed any new music Fridays this year and have not been that impressed with many new albums, but this day was stacked. “Promises” likely takes the crown for being the best release this week. I may like this a little more than the new BCNR.

To be honest, I barely know anything about classical music or what makes a composition great. I’ve only had some experience with third stream and music that has classical elements. However, this album inspires me to venture ... read more

How does a legend of yesterday create a summative body of work with a synth maestro from two generations ahead? Not to mention that a whole orchestra is coupled to their project. On paper, Promises was quite the promise, and the titling of the project was interesting considering it coincided with a Xiu Xiu release date, and their opus with a peculiar album cover was named "A Promise".

I've never really delved into this realm of music a whole lot. Pharaoh Sanders' "Live In ... read more

Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space.

and they still feel all so wasted on myself

Today we are graced with very, very few of the great jazz musicians of the past. After the passing of Chick Corea less than two months ago, someone associated with the later years of jazz fusion along side Miles Davis, we're left with only a select few like Herbie Hancock and John McLaughlin to remind us of where jazz once was. This is no great surprise as many of the great jazz releases in history came from the late 50's and early 60's before it faded away from the limelight, replaced by the ... read more

What a long ass, incredible ass, artistic ass, beautiful ass, ethereal ass, stunning ass, escapist ass, dreamy ass, extremely well made ass song.

★★★★★☆☆☆☆☆
5.4/10

As a fan of unconventional symphony crossovers, with probably my favourite being Metropole Orkest on albums like "What Heat", "Sylva", and SOHN's "Live with the Metropole Orkest", I encountered "Promises" with a hint of hope and curiosity. I'm still not quite sure if I'm satisfied with what I got.

The Floating Points project in collaboration with Pharoah Sanders and The London Symphony Orchestra presents a motif ... read more

You can do a whole lot with very little and 'Promises' is a fine example of an album that embodies that statement. All that you can find on 'Promises' is a 7 note motif, a cold electronic ambience, Third Stream mastery, and colourful saxophones from a Jazz legend, it's odd that all of this left me entranced for a 45 duration but I well and truly felt mesmerized while listening to it. The way that these elements slowly but surely build onto each other is captivating to me and I find it ... read more

8.3 - Great

Listening to this while working was definitely the right way to go.

Promises is an absolutely gorgeous listen front to back, and this is from someone who has barely any experience with ambient jazz. I was worried this would drag but I was surprisingly wrong. This album or song (I honestly don’t know) was able to take me to another level of serenity, like floating on a cloud, using simplicity as it’s main benefit. I do not know how much I will come back to this, or if I ... read more

It starts with 7 notes - on repeat - for almost all 45 minutes. There´s time to breath in between the end and the new beginning of these 7 notes.Like listening to waves or the traffic or pigeons on the roof......The moment Pharoah´s saxophone enters a journey unfolds through so many emotional shades of life. He´s is in an universe of his own, searching and delivering the healing beauty of music. This music seems to have nothing to prove, it exists. Sanders - Shepherd - The ... read more

tl;dr: i love it

I may not know all that much about jazz, but I don’t need to to be totally stunned by what all these talented artists are able to achieve together. Keys gently shimmer around the duets between a lush orchestra and Sanders’ tasteful playing in a way doesn’t need to excite you to captivate you. Instead, you feel relaxed, entranced even. Promises is this beautiful vacuum that uses even the spaces between each not to create a feeling of transcendence, ... read more

I literally had no idea what I expected out of this album when I saw a brief Fantano thumbnail of this and clicked play. My mind was not ready, my ears weren’t ready, I wasn’t ready. The forty minute train ride I took to get to university on a mid-day when I had this album playing, glided me to just stop whatever I was doing, not even look at my phone (only to check what Movement I’m on), and to listen what each instrument had to whisper, speak, and yell at me.

Promises ... read more

This album is so sonically captivating that I want revisit it multiple times a day - I always give in. I am still studying, but I can thankfully, due to its mainly meditative sound, just about get away with having it on and not getting distracted. I've all but given up listening to other 2021 releases (as of early May).

I love ambient music, so I did really enjoy this album quite a bit, and while this isnt my favorite ambient album ever made, this was still really relaxing and nice. I loved the jazziness of it, the saxophone on here gave me life, and I loved how all of these tracks linked together and it felt like 1 long track. And even if it was one long track, it didn't drag at all, and it kept me engaged throughout its runtime! And while the ending did leave me not fully satisfied, I still really liked this ... read more

This is a breath of fresh air for the classical genre, adding so many modern elements, and while I can appreciate that, this is just not the album for me

Over the past few weeks, this piece of music created and performed by Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, and The London Symphony Orchestra has been creating buzz amongst the music world. It isn’t hard to see why, as “Promises” is a great exercise of modern classical, electronic, and jazz music.

This album actually contains just one piece of music with nine movements within said piece, and “Promises” is held together through the use of a handful of chords played on ... read more

If this piece were just movements 6-9, then this might have gotten 2 points higher from me. Unfortunately, this just feels like an introduction to nowhere, and the beauty and majesty of the second half is greatly diluted by the monotony and patience-testing stagnation of the first.

AOTY alert!!

FIRST LISTEN: Like a UFO landing, Floating Points teams up with Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra to provide us with a collection of movements which shroud themselves in mystery until Pharoah woos us with doses of sultry saxophone that take us away into the night.

Wow...I'm transcending! Promises sees electronic music producer, Floating Points teaming up with saxophonist Pharoah Sanders to create a multi-movement progressive electronic, jazz, modern classical, minimal piece, backed by the London Symphony Orchestra. The whole album is one 46 minute composition broken up into 9 movements, so you will still hear the same chord progression and keyboard motifs throughout, but each section has notable additions; mostly through Sanders' saxophone improvising, ... read more

Genuinely stunning. Sanders is absolutely incredible all over this thing and the repeating melody is an ear worm for the ages.

Beyond all horizons, all figurations of horizon, there is a quickening gyre, a starry storm of matter, where involution becomes revolution—and meets a clarion call. It mutters and croons and sometimes creaks, perhaps an absent presence, or a lurking shadow. It knows how, this night, the wind along the grass has touched the roving clouds. And perhaps, in the end, by turns, it will whisper to you: that these stars are but its million, tumbling eyes...

Yup, I'm gonna use it for my directorial debut which is gonna take place inside my bedroom. Starring me and my wall.