To his colleagues and lecturers, he is Sam Shepherd – a twenty-three-year-old finishing his PhD in Molecular Genetics.
To us non-scientists, he is better known as Floating Points – one of the most promising and effortlessly talented London producers to be born out of this so-called post-dubstep / wonky / boom-bap continuum you keep hearing about.
A classically trained musician, Shepherd’s familiarity to his craft makes him difficult to pin down to one genre – people started to take notice from the career-breaking anthem ‘Love Me Like This’, where he transformed an ’80s boogie rare-groove loop into a slo-house synthed-out keys workout. When questioned about the song, he says: “I’m not showing off, but I made that in ten minutes…”
He has since gained relentless support from the BBC’s leftfield trinity (Gilles, Mary and Benji); co-runs his own label; released a slew of instantly sold-out 12” vinyl releases; completed remix work for the likes of Four Tet, Bonobo and Sebastien Teller; formed a thirteen-piece jazz and classical fusion live-band outfit (un)imaginatively named The Floating Points Ensemble – all this whilst specializing in the Neuroscience of Pain at a molecular level!
So how does he manage to juggle this ‘scientist by day / DJ and producer by night’ lifestyle? “It’s quite hard work. I don’t think either are suffering at the moment… but when I get to the last year of my PhD, I guess I’ll have to put a lot of stuff on hold,” he shrugs.
And then after that – the music or the science?: “Music and science. Life would be a bit more boring without the other.”
Words by Raj Chaudhuri
Where: London
What: House / boogie / jazz / 2-step
Unique Fact: Sam’s dad is a vicar. His first step into music was when his dad made him join the church choir because of dwindling numbers.
Get 3 songs: ‘Love Me Like This’, ‘K&G Beat’, ‘People’s Potential’
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Clash Magazine Issue 50
This is an excerpt from an article that appears in the 50th issue of Clash Magazine. Pick it up in stores from May 7th. |
