1. Track unavailable "Silhouettes (I, II & III)"



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The qualities that at first made Floating Points'slightly underwhelming are the same qualities that have eventually made it our album of the year. We'd always known Sam Shepherd as an artist of subtle gestures. While always musically rich, his club tracks—from 2009's "Vacuum Boogie" to 2014's "Nuits Sonores"—often crept up on you, revealing their full force on a lubricated dance floor with a good soundsystem. He'd also produced plenty of delicate downtempo cuts, played a large studio role in Fatima's gorgeous soul record Yellow Memories , and led the Floating Points Ensemble, a 16-piece group who made stirring but understated expressions. Still, something aboutfelt slight, alluringly out of reach.But slowly, over time, the album revealed itself. At first, it was through little moments. Perhaps it was the tender vocal harmony and strings washing over "Silhouettes (I, II & III)." The interplay between electronic and acoustic instruments on "For Mamish." Or when the filter uncurled on "Argenté," the track coalescing into a dazzling synthesiser ballad. What initially seemed unremarkable became extraordinary. The utterly distinctive Floating Points vocabulary had been recast as a beautiful new language. Jazz-fusion, ambient, classical, house—half a lifetime of influences had merged as a 43-minute masterwork. Asopened up, so, too, did Shepherd, telling us the extraordinary lengths he goes to in all aspects of his music. The album was apparently completed across five years, as Shepherd refined his craft and clarified his vision. From the perspective of both artist and listener, it appears that time was the key to