What can lead an artist fervently devoted to experimentation to produce an album of tech house tracks? Maybe it is the need to go back to a comforting origin (his beginnings as a radio dj) to rediscover new motivations; or maybe it is the need to find comfort in something you know so well that you can consider your natural language.
The fact is that if you do that you have to be impeccable, otherwise you will appear one in a million. This is not what Floating Points can afford after composing brilliant electronic soundscapes as Elaenia (2015), made of improvisations on synths and piano able to create spatial and deep sounds. And it’s not easy to ignore his masterpiece Reflections-Mojave Desert (2016) in which ambient music was at service of a soul searching with breathtaking sounds. Of course, Floating Points is also Crush (2019) in which his mastery was to offer a stylish version of breakbeat, just to say that dance music is in the chords of the musician from Manchester.
So we can expect that a dance album by Sam Shepherd will be embellished by the perfume of musical research and experimentation or simply we must accept that an artist can do what he prefers and we have only to choose if we like it or not. Ultimately, the new Cascade is a powerful dance album (out for Ninja Tune) that might disappoint who is searching for new musical scenarios. Skilled at shaping the electronic matter, Sam Shepherd goes from tech house to IDM offering nine songs guided by rhythm.
The opening “Vocoder” (in a “club mix” version) offers a house alternation of waiting and explosions, in a track that doesn’t leave a mark. “Key103” is more convincing: sequencers, bass line and a relentless 4/4 create a techno carnival enjoyable for ears and body. “Birth4000” grows up beat after beat till a Moroderian explosion of disco synth layers: it is very difficult not to move. “Ocotillo” gives a pause to the excited listener with a chill out floating of eastern sounds (a sitar?) which gradually gives space to an impetuous breakbeat. “Afflecks Palace” explores acid house territories and it is one of the most interesting tracks, full of details and electronic impulses.
Although it is an enjoyable listening, Cascade suffers the “already heard” syndrome. We are full of dance music and maybe Sam Shepherd could dare more. It is certainly not a problem for such a brilliant musician, so you only have to decide if you like it or not.
