Promises: Through Congress + Reflections: Mojave Desert

A double bill of films from Manchester producer Floating Points will screen at the Barbican this evening. ‘Reflections: Mojave Desert’ will play on an outdoor screen at the Sculpture Court of Frobisher Crescent, with the European premiere of ‘Promises: Through Congress’ following.

Floating Points’ Sam Shepherd has had plenty to celebrate in the past month, with 2021 album ‘Promises’, a collaboration with legendary jazz saxophonist Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra, receiving a Mercury Prize nomination in July. The ‘Promises: Through Congress’ film, recorded at contemporary art museum The Broad in Los Angeles, further augments the record’s quality, offering a multi-sensory experience as Julie Mehretu’s painting ‘Congress’ is examined up close, with the ambient, electronic jazz masterpiece providing the soundtrack.

‘Reflections: Mojave Desert’, meanwhile, was filmed by Anna Diaz Ortuño across the vast plains of California’s dustbowl in 2016, and combines the sounds of Floating Points and his live ensemble with field recordings of the desert itself. Among the film’s highlights is a performance of the track ‘Silurian Blue’, an expansive composition that combines cosmic jazz and kosmiche influences to create a soaring canvas of sound.

‘Promises: Through Congress + Reflections: Mojave Desert’ screens at the Barbican tonight.