Although he was unquestionably one of the most impressive new artists to emerge in 2009, at first it was hard to pin down the musical stylings of Samual Shepherd, better known as Floating Points. Standout single "J & W Beat" married epic atmospherics with smudged breakbeats, for a feel not miles away from the euphoric rush of early hardcore.
Then, on "Love Me Like This," he seemed to shift gears entirely, pulling a tasty disco-funk sample from early 80s obscurity and reengineering it into a slow-mo future funk grind halfway between wonky downtempo and deep house.
Later single "Vacuum", a seductive 21rst century disco-soul record that would mix as neatly into Dam Funk as it would into mininal deep house, seemed to confirm this move towards warmer, funkier sounds. Of course it may just be that Shephard, a musician with classical training, isn't content to be pigeonholed and grind out a single style like so many artists these days.
Floating Points is an example of how the experimental stylings of wonky and dubstep slowly absorbed themselves back into the more dancefloor-oriented sounds of house in 2009, often to wonderful effect.
