A Journey in Sound – Floating Points Shares Falling to Earth
This standalone single is an extended excerpt from the forthcoming
album Mere Mortals, a recording of the artist’s debut ballet score
Falling to Earth is produced by Floating Points, aka Sam Shepherd,
who also performs the track alongside the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra
The single is available to stream and download now – listen here
“Shepherd’s music constantly arrests the ear with new textures and effects,
but builds to them carefully, with a film composer’s ear for lyricism
and a sculptor’s sense of form”
San Francisco Chronicle
Boundary-pushing artist Sam Shepherd makes his Deutsche Grammophon debut with an extended track for synths and orchestra entitled Falling to Earth, recorded with the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra (SFBO). Respected worldwide as composer-producer-musician-DJ Floating Points, Shepherd is known for mesmeric live sets that often combine acoustic and electronic instruments. As well as a string of hit singles and EPs, he has released acclaimed albums including Elaenia, Crush and the Mercury-shortlisted Promises (with jazz icon Pharoah Sanders and the London Symphony Orchestra).
In 2022, he took on the new challenge of writing a full-length ballet score in response to a commission from Tamara Rojo, Artistic Director of San Francisco Ballet. Inspired by the myth of Pandora, Mere Mortals was premiered at San Francisco’s War Memorial Opera House in January 2024, directed by Rojo, with choreography by Aszure Barton and design and visuals by Hamill Industries.
Shepherd played synths live with the SFBO during the production’s successful first run, and was reunited with the orchestra to record the work for DG. Issued digitally on 1 May 2026 as a prelude to the release of the Mere Mortals album later this year, Falling to Earth comes from the heart of the ballet. Like the score as a whole, it blends orchestral and electronic sounds to powerful effect, echoing the retelling of the myth, which draws parallels between Pandora’s story and the unforeseeable impact of scientific progress on our own society today.
Floating Points is currently appearing live in a new run of Mere Mortals in San Francisco (final dates 1‑3 May 2026), and will also take part in the work’s European premiere at the Edinburgh Festival (28 August, with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra; also 29 & 30 August), and in performances at Sadler’s Wells in London (9–12 September, with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia).
April 2026
