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Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises LP

Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra - Promises LP

Luaka Bop

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There was so much said about this album in the weeks following its release that I don’t know if I ever wanted to actually listen to it let alone weigh in on the “discourse”... But here goes anyway!

The return of Pharoah Sanders after over 15 years is enough to pique interest, but if you’re expecting THE Sanders of the 1960s/1970s, this ain’t it. None of the soul leaning rhythm and overblow that characterised some of his better known work (but I mean, on the latter point, give the guy a break he’s 80!), this album largely consists of an ambient backdrop in the vein of Floating Points’ previous work with a one riff vamp and occasional strings over which Sanders floats his sax lines.

There are nods towards Sanders’ spiritual jazz history (Alice Coltrane-esque harp, Sanders doing a vocal run a la Leon Thomas, a slightly syncopated vamp), but it never really hits the out of body highs of that work. That’s not to say he doesn’t play some beautiful and understated lines, but this really is a Floating Points record more than anything.
-Mitch

Cover art by Julie Mehretu.