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10.0
124220
10.0 |
Loud And Quiet
Written descriptions of all Promises’ subtleties lack the bandwidth required to do them justice. Instead, the best way to understand the record, it would seem, is to listen to it over and over, each time more closely than the last, trusting in its revelatory powers
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10.0
124223
10.0 |
musicOMH
This is a truly joyous album, and a purely pleasurable experience
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10.0
124249
10.0 |
The Observer
Five years in the making, this breathtaking album transcends the genres each of its three collaborators bring to the table
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10.0
124256
10.0 |
Vinyl Chapters
Promises never feels like a box-ticking exercise in fusion, indulgence and bluster; it plays out like an empathetic conversation between kindred spirits searching for communion, an elegiac, autumnal sound-painting beyond words
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10.0
124341
10.0 |
The FT
Nine seamless movements are brought together with skill, patience and detail
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10.0
124402
10.0 |
Albumism
Listen in solitude if you can and its beauty will illuminate your life in ways that didn’t seem possible
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9.5
124244
9.5 |
The Quietus
It is a celebration of sound at its finest and most pure: from the smallest scratch to cathartic crescendos, from spiralling improv to contemplative silences. Every note, whisper, bleep, and shift is significant. It is marvellously multifaceted but never obnoxious: a refreshing, one-of-a-kind conversation between jazz, classical, and electronic
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9.0
124240
9.0 |
Paste Magazine
Promises sounds like a leap of creative faith, a cosmic communion that reaches across generations, genres and musical barriers to build something beautiful
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9.0
124242
9.0 |
PopMatters
See review
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9.0
124283
9.0 |
Crack
Promises is dream-like and totally captivating throughout. It’s also that rare thing: a high profile collaboration that’s more than just the sum of its parts
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9.0
124215
9.0 |
Pitchfork
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
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9.0
124216
9.0 |
Clash
A highly accomplished piece of music, Pharoah Sanders and Floating Points both excel in their newfound exploratory duo with a piece of work which will go down in jazz-cross- electronic-cross-classical history
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9.0
124217
9.0 |
Exclaim
A recording that is more of a transcending mind meld than it is a collaboration
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9.0
124359
9.0 |
Under The Radar
It’s 2021’s finest collaboration, and one of the year’s best albums so far
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8.7
124255
8.7 |
Beats Per Minute
We have just witnessed a meeting of monolithic proportions
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8.5
124458
8.5 |
Spectrum Culture
A widescreen, cross-generational collaboration that takes the listener on a beautiful, unpredictable journey
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8.2
124400
8.2 |
Sputnik Music (staff)
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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8.0
124238
8.0 |
The Arts Desk
Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders present music in a liquid state where everything seems possible
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8.0
124245
8.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
Esteemed in their own right, Floating Points and Pharoah Sanders were destined to work together
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8.0
124218
8.0 |
Mojo
It's a subtly sophisticated piece, but it also creates space for Sanders to showcase his tender, measured, lyrical phrasing, abstracted scatting. Print edition only
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8.0
124221
8.0 |
Northern Transmissions
See review
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7.0
124232
7.0 |
All Music
Droning organs and violins that whisk and wrench are centered in the two final movements, finishing the suite with a sense of uncertainty. The trip is well worth completing despite Sanders' early exit
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7.0
124219
7.0 |
Uncut
An impressive collision of talents, and sublimely lovely in places, but also frustratingly slight. Print edition only
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