Promises

Pitchfork 9.0/10 The all-star collaboration between a producer, a saxophonist, and a symphony is a celestial event. But it’s Pharaoh Sanders’ playing that holds it all together, a clear late-career masterpiece.

The Needle Drop 9/10 Promises is a tasteful, spellbinding, and beautiful intersection of jazz, classical, and electronic music.

The Line of Best Fit 8/10 Promises matches the patience required for the project’s realization. Built on a sparse keyboard figure, the composition at the core of the collaboration can initially seem underwhelmingly slender, even repetitively monotonous. Repeated listens gradually reveal a different story.

Rolling Stone 4/5 Sanders pushes his sound to its most heavenly extreme, with his murmuring lines hovering above producer Floating Points’ ambient-classical shimmer.

All Music 3.5/5 To Shepherd's credit, his framework for Sanders is in the moment. There's no evident intent to evoke any point in the saxophonist's past, or even in maintaining continuity with the Floating Points catalog.

Under The Radar 9.0/10 Despite these players’ histories in creating abstract noise, Promises is one of the most unexpectedly quiet and beautiful albums of the year so far. It utilizes the sheer magnitude of its stars’ talent while showing a magnificent mastery of restraint.

Clash 9/10 ‘Promises’ is five years' worth of experimental soundscaping condensed into one mind-boggling harmonic journey. A highly accomplished piece of music.

Mojo 4/5 It's a subtly sophisticated piece, but it also creates space for Sanders to showcase his tender, measured, lyrical phrasing, abstracted scatting and, 34 minutes into this 46-minute marvel, a brief sputtering blast of free saxophone energy that proves, at 80, his fire remains potent.

The Observer 5/5 Five years in the making, this breathtaking album transcends the genres each of its three collaborators bring to the table.

Loud and Quiet 10/10 Sanders’ performance is the star turn, seeming almost three-dimensional with his breath sounds and key-clicks interacting with Shepherd’s electronics, and the LSO’s blending of their instruments is always the moreish side of soupy.

Pop Matters 9/10 Perhaps it's reverence for the power of the expansive that makes Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders such a dynamic combination on Promises, their breathtaking collaboration.

Spectrum Culture 85% A widescreen, cross-generational collaboration that takes the listener on a beautiful, unpredictable journey.

Beats Per Minute 87% The tremors from the encounter between Sanders and Shepherd resonating out into the infinitude. It leaves us in no doubt that we have just witnessed a meeting of monolithic proportions.

Uncut 7/10 Promises is an impressive collision oftalents, and sublimely lovely in places, but also frustratingly slight.