Rob Thomsett
Yaraandoo & Hara

The album was composed and produced by Sam Shepherd aka Floating Points, whose sophomore album Crush was named Best New Music by Pitchfork, appeared in the New York Times, and placed him on several 2019 critics lists. His debut album Elaenia, released on Luaka Bop, was also named Best New Music and hailed as one of the best debuts of the decade. It is also the release that brought Pharoah Sanders to work with him. Shepherd is a restless, ever-evolving producer and composer who has toured with The xx and also holds a PhD in neuroscience.For Pharoah Sanders, who recently turned 80, this is a rare outing and his first album in fifteen years. One of the last icons of his generation, Pharoah played with John Coltrane on his late free jazz masterpieces and released a series of expansive recordings under his own name for the Impulse! label, cited as a key influence by everyone from The Stooges to Marvin Gaye.

FRANK is the latest release from Dolfin Records, a Texas indie label with a prominent underground roster that includes rapper Lord Byron, producer Ben Hixon, R&B singer Jon Bap, and former Stanley Clarke drummer Mike Mitchell. Liv.e is one of the newer artists on the label, having previously collaborated with Hixon through a series of DJ parties in Dallas (New Math Mondays). Hixon and Bap have significant marks on this project, providing production, mixing, and background vocals. The beats they lend are often heavy on the drums, with short, hazy riffs that resemble Dilla-style syncopated loops.FRANK opens with a short hiss, launching into a jittery pattern of cymbals and drums, stinging bass slaps, and bouncy guitar riffs. You can almost see the tape reels rolling in front of you as the instrumental loops play themselves out with occasional flutters and skips. A chorus of voices enter with harmonies out of the George Clinton songbook, blending in behind the slow, finger-snapping beat. It sounds more like a lost, dusty funk recording from the 70s than an R&B song made in 2017.