Floating Points collides club production with orchestral scale on Mere Mortals, his first full-length ballet score.
Recorded with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra, the 14-track album retells Pandora through strings, brass, percussion and electronics—commissioned by SF Ballet’s Tamara Rojo, with choreography by Aszure Barton and visuals from Hamill Industries.
The whole album explores the myth of Pandora, but if you look at how her story was translated over time, she was completely stripped of her agency and kindness. Pandora’s not about bringing hell to Earth. She really represents curiosity and change. – Floating Points, aka Sam Shepherd
The score moves between Cordula Merks’ solo violin on Hope, the dissonant impact of Rage of the Gods and the harp-led pause of Her Gift. Its reimagined ending also connects Pandora’s story to the climate crisis, with Hope released into a world already reduced to ash.
Shepherd performs live with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra for the ballet’s European premiere at Edinburgh International Festival, followed by further shows on 29 and 30 August. The production then transfers to Sadler’s Wells in London from 9–12 September with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia.
By treating the orchestra and electronic studio as parts of one production environment, Mere Mortals expands Floating Points’ sound beyond the club without losing its physical intensity. The technology shapes the scale, but live musicianship gives the score its emotional force.