British musician and producer Floating Points (Sam Shepherd), legendary jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra join forces for Promises, an album of nine movements for the ears, heart and soul. The first recorded by Sanders in over a decade, a stunning 46 minute collection floats and melts and is as beautiful as it is mesmerizing. Featuring artwork by Julie Mehretu.

Rated 10/11 Music and 9/11 Sound by Michael Fremer (Analog Planet)

• Recorded at Air Studios
• Cut by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering
• Gatefold die cut cover
• Pressed at Pallas in Germany

Sam (Floating Points): Pharoah...
Pharoah: Huh...?
Sam: Were you asleep? I'm sorry...
Pharoah: No no... I was listening... and dreaming... and listening to music in my head...
Sam: Oh wow... sorry.
Pharoah: Many times, people think I might be asleep... but in fact, I am just listening to music in my head. I'm always listening... to the sounds around me... and playing, in my mind... and sometimes I dream.
Sam: What were you dreaming about?
Pharoah: I'm on a ship. In the ocean. Bears coming around smoking cigars. The bears are singing, 'We have the music. We have what you're looking for.'

Pharoah: How you like that take, Sam?
Sam: It's cool. I think the bit in the middle, where it stops again...I think you can hear...We were both kind of confused. I like it as well because it sounds like two musicians that are trying to guide each other.
Pharoah: I think that's it right there. It came out different. It came out good though.
Sam: You happy?
Pharoah: Yeah, I'm cool with it.
Sam: Okay. Yeah, I think your playing is beautiful.

"The all-star collaboration between a producer, a saxophonist, and a symphony is a celestial event. But it's Pharoah Sanders' playing that holds it all together, a clear late-career masterpiece." - Mark Richardson, Pitchfork, Rated 9.0

"Sanders' playing is soft and lyrical, not so much searching as observing, like he's strolling down a densely wooded path with Shepherd's recurrent arpeggio flickering like sunlight through gaps in trees....There's a gradual ebb and flow through the first four movements, the last of which is enhanced by Sanders' friendly vocal trills. His saxophone then becomes more active and clustered, yet tightly controlled, and early into the sixth movement yields to a mass of strings signifying a looming threat that dissipates before turning violent, seemingly cradled into silence. Up springs the arpeggio and Sanders' saxophone, placid until invigorated by swirling electronics. Sanders emits piquant beams, never quite blasts, and fades out by the end of the seventh movement. Droning organs and violins that whisk and wrench are centered in the two final movements, finishing the suite with a sense of uncertainty. The trip is well worth completing despite Sanders' early exit." - Andy Kellman, AllMusic

"This is a record you can play repeatedly and get lost every time in its magic. I've been playing a test pressing sent to me at the end of December by a friend of Shepherd's and remain mesmerized with every play by the mostly dreamy, meditative music and the pristine sound, including Sanders' sax, which floats serenely between the speakers." - Michael Fremer, Analog Planet, Music 10/11, Sound 9/11

Musicians:

Conductor – Sally Herbert
Orchestrated By – The London Symphony Orchestra
Piano, Harpsichord, Celesta, Synths and much more – Sam Shepherd
Tenor Saxophone, Voice – Pharoah Sanders

Track Listing:

1. Movement 1
2. Movement 2
3. Movement 3
4. Movement 4
5. Movement 5
6. Movement 6
7. Movement 7
8. Movement 8
9. Movement 9

Click here to listen to samples on YouTube.com ♫