At one point in Reflections - Mojave Desert, a short film released in conjunction with Floating Points’ soundtrack, director Anna Diaz Ortuño films Sam Shepherd swinging what looks like a satellite dish in circles in the middle of the arid California landscape. It’s for the recording of the interstitial track “Kites,” wherein Shepherd rotates a parabolic Telinga microphone, generally used for field recordings, to capture the sound of an EMS Synthi as it bounces off a constellation of rock structures. A curious thing happens across the track’s brief three minutes: It’s when the mic is turned away from the source that it sounds most natural, rather than when it faces the clear signal.
It’s precisely the kind of inversion of sound and expectations that Floating Points has mastered in a few short years. In the midst of dubstep’s rapid expansion in the late 2000s, the UK electronic musician first emerged with an emphasis on wiggly boogie, but just as listeners became accustomed to his sound, Shepherd began testing the limits of his own style, peaking with 2015’s cosmic jazz-infused Elaenia. Reflections - Mojave Desert is arguably his most ambitious recording to date, if only because he availed himself of the Mojave Desert itself as his recording studio.
Clocking in at under half an hour, the soundtrack shows Floating Points in a transitional phase, moving from the larger ensembles he took out on the road to support Elaenia to a more streamlined five-piece that fleshes out Shepherd’s vintage keyboards with two guitarists, bassist, and drummer. “Silurian Blue” shows just what an expansive sound the new lineup is capable of. It opens with Shepherd playing a dulcet chiming melody as guitarists Matthew Kirkis and Alex Reeve sidle alongside him with long, sustained tones. Gathering momentum, the piece moves from placid to soaring in two minutes, with Leo Taylor’s drums briefly holding it all together before the sounds drift apart again like dust, as Shepherd's keys settle into a rich, church-like organ tone. It's a far cry from the house and garage with which he made his name: When he swoops back in for the track’s climax, certain heads may find themselves waiting for “Shine on You Crazy Diamond” to burst forth at any moment.
Watching the band move between ambient and anthemic instrumental rock against the otherwise de-peopled backdrop of the Mojave Desert, it’s hard not to have your mind drift to Pink Floyd’s own iconic concert film, 1972’s Live at Pompeii. (Floyd-ting Points, anyone?) And while neither guitarist approaches David Gilmour’s ability to electrify such spacy music with emotional intensity, Floyd never had a drummer to match the speed and fury of Taylor, who seems almost tireless in his incessant, ever-evolving rhythms.
Floating Points has always been especially attentive to the way sound exists in space; many of his most electrifying moments take place along the periphery of silence. Here, the painstaking way he details the psychoacoustic properties of the landscape is remarkable. While “Kites” might at first seem like a mere interlude, playback on headphones situates you in the remarkable headspace of the desert, evoking the kind of calm most modern urban listeners rarely experience. As Shepherd swings the mic, distant echo and miles-off reverb color the distant arpeggios of that synth situated on the rocks. Listen deeper and the smallest of sounds also arise, like the crunching of rocks under Shepherd’s feet as he moves through the space; the very breath of the desert is made audible. The result is transportive and supremely psychedelic.
Only two tracks arise from brief moments of desert ambience to become fully fleshed-out pieces. The soundtrack’s longest track, “Kelso Dunes,” is built up from the arpeggios that “Kites” put into relief, now incorporated into the full band setting. Susumu Mukai’s restrained bass is the first to engage Shepherd’s shimmering theme, giving just enough space for Taylor’s motoric drums to push through. Shepherd’s synthesized swirls widen and the guitars pick up velocity. At seven minutes, Shepherd eases off the pedal and the sound is suddenly infused with crisp desert air. You can almost hear the group draw a breath before lighting out on another flight. The intensity that Floating Points attains at the peak of “Kelso Dunes” is exhilarating: You almost hear the small group achieving liftoff and floating a few feet off the desert ground.
