Despite playing more than 1,000 gigs over ten years, it took a notable performance on the David Letterman show and the catchy ‘Seasons (Waiting on You)’ single to enlarge Future Islands’ font on festival posters. No longer cult favourites but borderline pop icons, the three-piece finally have a substantial fan base to work with. They’re now in the comfortable position of releasing an album with the guarantee that a considerable amount of individuals will be waiting to see what they can conjure up. With this in mind they have stuck to what they know best and The Far Field is a direct continuation from Singles. Whether this is a good or bad thing is a debate for another time, but the synth-pop veterans have picked up where they left off and delivered 12 tracks of captivatingly honest lyrics written by Samuel Herring under the backdrop of Gerrit Welmers’ mesmerising keyboard soundscapes and William Cashion’s relentless bass playing.

While this strict framework has its limitations, it does give Future Islands an instantly recognisable, defining sound – of which they are masters. The 12 chest-pounding melancholy-infused portraits of love and loss are littered with undeniable hooks and instantaneous rhythms which imprint themselves within your psyche from the start. Written at the beginning of 2016 and road-tested throughout the year with a series of secret shows under fake names, they then settled down with Grammy Award-winning producer John Congleton at the end of the same year in Los Angeles’ legendary Sunset Sound to lay down their fifth release. Herring’s passionate delivery and stage presence will always be the attention-grabbing facet of Future Islands, but it could be argued that the defiant synth/bass interplay between Cashion and Welmer is what really defines the band. Furthermore, this is the first of their LPs to be recorded with live drums; adding even greater intensity to the compositions.

First track ‘Aladdin’ gradually emerges and eventually reveals itself to be a beautiful love song: “And I built a ship for two/It waits for me and you,” croons Herring. Whilst ‘Time on Her Side’ and ‘Day Glow Fire’ search for deeper meaning lying within tender memories. ‘Beauty of the Road’ explores similar themes as Herring unashamedly exhibits his dark memories and craves the listener to feel his pain: “Cause in a darkened space, we watched our souls replace/ And said our ‘goodbyes’/But we didn’t know the shape.” He then offers a glimpse into his despondent touring mind-set in the heartfelt ‘Through The Roses’- a track in which the instrumentation is slightly dialled down in order to let the writing capture the imagination of the listener:

“It’s not easy/Just being human. And the lights and the smoke and the screens/Don’t make it better. I’m no stronger than you and I’m scared/But we can pull through—together.”

An argument could be made that all 12 of these recordings are potential singles. However, along with the euphoric ‘Ran’ and dance floor leaning ‘Cave’, the Debbie Harry duet ‘Shadows’ is possibly the album’s finest piece of work and offers differentiation; allowing Herring distinctive vocal delivery to contrast against the Blondie legend’s inimitable voice. The groove-oriented ‘North Star’ is another shoe in for a future release and one of the catchiest pop arrangements on the LP. However, Herring is most comfortable when in more miserable terrain and he brings proceedings to a close in suitably melancholic fashion with the potent ‘Black Rose.’

“In the winter, there’s a black rose/It’s beauty, something blinding. Curling wilding, through the white snow/It makes me feel like diamonds.”

Those who listen to this album in search of a sonic advancement from the Baltimore natives will feel disappointed. Nevertheless, for the most part, The Far Field succeeds in delivering 45 minutes of instantaneous, soul quenching indie-pop. Future Island’s USP has remained in tact in the form of 12 beautifully crafted compositions made for dancing and self-reflection.
Paul Hill

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