Promises
by Floating Points
User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 57 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 52 out of 57
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 57
  3. Negative: 2 out of 57
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  1. clem666
    May 28, 2021
    6
    I won't hide you the fact that I am far from being an big adept of jazz and classic music. 'Promises' was my first step to encounter who appear to be huge creators as Pharoah Sanders or Floating Points. So I may simply not have the luggage needed to deeply identify the forces and surprises of such a project. Even after listening to it several times, I thought those notes surrounding theI won't hide you the fact that I am far from being an big adept of jazz and classic music. 'Promises' was my first step to encounter who appear to be huge creators as Pharoah Sanders or Floating Points. So I may simply not have the luggage needed to deeply identify the forces and surprises of such a project. Even after listening to it several times, I thought those notes surrounding the one I give were way too overrated.

    I still can recognize the beauty of it all, its tenderness and the profound anxiety it sometimes refers to. Movements (and I mean the tracks) follow each other perfectly, very smoothly as they tend to construct something much bigger than just all the sounds they manage to gather. Throughout the record instruments don't stop to compliment each other, accompagnied by a noticeable pattern remaining unchanged from start to end. In addition to that we also have some disparate vocals and unexpected crescendos here and there. Everyone seems to consider "Movement 6" as the main title of this artwork but I think that, while it has enormous potential, it is sorely lacking in depth and breadth. Even if honestly remarkable I think it could have been way more compelling and shining. And I don't only think that about 'Movement 6', but also about the rest of this album unfortunately.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

35
#35 Best Album of 2021
80
#80 Most Discussed Album of 2021

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
86

Universal acclaim - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 20
  3. Negative: 0 out of 20
  1. Sputnikmusic
    Apr 7, 2021
    82
    Make no mistake, the payoff that Promises promises is by no means immediate. This is music to savour with eyes closed in a dark room, headphones on and all other distractions firmly yeeted from sight.
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  2. Rolling Stone
    Apr 6, 2021
    80
    Eighty-year-old sax great Sanders pushes his sound to its most heavenly extreme. [Apr 2021, p.73]
  3. The Wire
    Apr 5, 2021
    70
    Promises doesn’t always come across like a true meeting of equals. Laswell used the saxophonist as a plug-in element in the late 90s, Michael Mantler’s Jazz Composer’s Orchestra did the same on 1968’s Communications, and there’s a bit of that feel here. A player with as unique and instantly recognisable a voice as Sanders always risks becoming a gimmick, but his performance here is stunningly beautiful, and the album would be unimaginable without him. [Apr 2021, p.57]
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