Floating Points has surprise-released Mere Mortals, a new album serving as the score for a ballet retelling the myth of Pandora’s box. The release coincides with the production’s European premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival, and presents Pandora as a figure of curiosity and change rather than simply the source of humanity’s suffering.

The ballet was commissioned by San Francisco Ballet artistic director Tamara Rojo and choreographed by Aszure Barton, after debuting in 2024. Its ending is deliberately bleak: hope escapes Pandora’s jar but circles a planet reduced to ash, accompanied by the closing track, “Nowhere to Land”; Sam Shepherd also praised violinist Cordula Merks’ performance and said it encouraged him to write more music.