Future Islands is an American
synth-pop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...
band based in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, comprising Gerrit Welmers (keyboards and programming), William Cashion (bass, acoustic and electric guitars),
Samuel T. Herring (lyrics and vocals), and Michael Lowry (percussion). The band was formed in January 2006 by Welmers, Cashion and Herring—the remaining members of the performance art college band
Art Lord & the Self-Portraits—and drummer Erick Murillo.
Future Islands came to prominence in 2014 with their fourth album ''
Singles
Singles are people not in a committed relationship.
Singles may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series
* ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe
* ''Singles'' ...
'' released by
4AD. Its lead single "
Seasons (Waiting on You)
"Seasons (Waiting on You)" is a song by American synthpop band Future Islands. It is the opening track on their fourth studio album ''Singles'', and was released as the album's lead single on February 4, 2014. The song received much critical accl ...
" was considered the best song of 2014 by
''Pitchfork'',
and ''
NME
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' and its performance at the ''
Late Show with David Letterman
The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...
'' in March 2014, became the most-viewed video on the show's YouTube page.
History
2003–2005: Origins – Art Lord & the Self-Portraits
Sam Herring and Gerrit Welmers grew up in
Morehead City, North Carolina
Morehead City is a port town in Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 8,661 at the 2010 census. Morehead City celebrated the 150th anniversary of its founding on May 5, 2007. It forms part of the Crystal Coast.
His ...
,
[
] two streets away from each other,
and attended the same middle school in
Newport, North Carolina
Newport is a town in Carteret County, North Carolina, Carteret County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 4,510 at the 2010 census.
History
Newport was officially chartered in 1866. Although the crossroads community on the Newport R ...
.
[
] They became friends around 1998, when they were in 8th grade.
[
] Herring had started making hip-hop music when he was 13 or 14, while Gerrit was a skater with interests in metal and punk music
who bought his first guitar at age 14. Having different musical backgrounds, they did not consider making music together during high school.
[
][
]
William Cashion started playing guitar when he was around 13, having had a couple of bands as a teenager in
Raleigh
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...
,
where he commuted to high school from
Wendell, North Carolina
Wendell is a town in Wake County, North Carolina, United States. It is a satellite town of Raleigh, the state capital. The population was 5,845 at the 2010 census.
History
Incorporated in 1903, Wendell was settled in the 1850s, when farmers in G ...
.
In 2002 he enrolled in the painting and drawing program at East Carolina University and had drawing classes with Sam Herring.
The idea to form a band came while Cashion was helping Herring study for an art history exam.
They invited local record shop personality Adam Beeby to play rhythmic keyboards and fellow art student Kymia Nawabi for percussion and backing vocals.
After a tumultuous debut on Valentine's Day February 14, 2003,
at Soccer Moms' House,
Herring also invited Welmers to join the band.
Only Cashion and Welmers already played a musical instrument
—the guitar—but Cashion took the bass and Welmers the keyboards,
[
] for a
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...
-inspired sound.
[
]
Sam Herring played Locke Ernst-Frost,
an arrogant narcissistic artist from Germany, Ohio, dressed in a 70s-inspired white suit with slicked-back hair, and a heavy German accent.
[
] The character's name originally was meant to be Oarlock Ernest Frost but it got shortened as a reference to
John Locke
John Locke (; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment thinkers and commonly known as the "father of liberalism ...
, the religious poet;
Max Ernst
Max Ernst (2 April 1891 – 1 April 1976) was a German (naturalised American in 1948 and French in 1958) painter, sculptor, printmaker, graphic artist, and poet. A prolific artist, Ernst was a primary pioneer of the Dada movement and Surrealism ...
, the artist; and
Robert Frost
Robert Lee Frost (March26, 1874January29, 1963) was an American poet. His work was initially published in England before it was published in the United States. Known for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloq ...
, the American poet.
The band quickly gained a local reputation and started touring the underground venues in the Southeast,
playing shows with North Carolina acts like
Valient Thorr
Valient Thorr is an American southern rock/ heavy metal band from Greenville, North Carolina. The name of the band is based on the urban legend of Valiant Thor, an Alien which came from Venus to Earth, Valiant Thor. Valient explained, "That'll ...
and Baltimore artists such as Height, Videohippos, OCDJ, Nuclear Power Pants, Santa Dads, Ecstatic Sunshine, Blood Baby, Ponytail
and electronic musician
Dan Deacon
Daniel Deacon (born August 28, 1981) is an American composer and electronic musician based in Baltimore, Maryland.
Deacon is renowned for his live shows, where large-scale audience participation and interaction is often a major element of the pe ...
[
] whom they met during a show on May 26, 2004.
Nawabi who was already a senior when Cashion, Herring and Welmers were freshmen,
[
] left the band to prepare for her graduation project in June–July 2003.
When Adam Beeby had to leave Greenville in September 2005,
the remaining members dissolved the band.
2006–2007: Formation – ''Little Advances''
![Future_Islands,_Kosmonaut_Festival_2015_07](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/38/Future_Islands%2C_Kosmonaut_Festival_2015_07.JPG)
When Art Lord & the Self Portraits disbanded in late 2005, its members forgot they had discussed with alt-country band The Texas Governor the possibility of touring together.
Future Islands was formed in early 2006 to keep that commitment, with an original line-up consisting of Cashion, Herring, Welmers and Erick Murillo—bassist for The Kickass
—who played an electronic drum kit.
Already as Art Lord & the Self-Portraits, the band wanted to change their image and took this opportunity to do so. William Cashion stated: "Me and Gerrit had been talking for a while about how we wanted to get rid of the gimmick. We wanted to be taken seriously. Our songs had outgrown the gimmick that the band was made on. The songs were starting to deal with bigger, personal, universal themes. We wanted to be taken seriously."
The band played their first show on February 12, 2006, at an anti-Valentine's Day party in a venue called the Turducken house,
opening for about a dozen bands.
After writing 6-7 songs in only one week, they had to come up with a new name quickly, narrowing it down to two choices—Future Shoes and Already Islands—and combining them into one. Future Islands self-released the EP ''Little Advances'' on April 28, 2006, which they recorded in March 2006.
A couple of months later, Herring dropped out of college and left Greenville to deal with a substance abuse problem he had acquired: "In June, I left town and didn't come back. It was just drug problems, man. I got sucked into the darkness of partying and shit college kids do. I came clean to my parents and said, 'Look, I have a problem and need your help.' I stayed at my parent's for about a month and then moved across the state to Asheville, North Carolina. It took about a year for me to get my act together."
The band still continued and on January 6, 2007, they self-released a split CD with Welmers' solo project Moss of Aura, recorded in December 2006.
2007–2008: ''Wave Like Home''
![Future_Islands,_Kosmonaut_Festival_2015_11](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e1/Future_Islands%2C_Kosmonaut_Festival_2015_11.JPG)
In July 2007, Future Islands recorded their debut album ''Wave Like Home''
with Chester Endersby Gwazda at Backdoor Skateshop in Greenville. As Cashion describes: "When we did ''Wave Like Home'', we were working with a really tight schedule. Sam lived in Asheville and could only be in Greenville to record for a week or so, and we had to work very fast. We recorded the whole album in 3 days, and we spent about a month mixing it."
After a Halloween party in 2007, Erick Murillo quit the band.
Having finished his degree, Cashion moved back to Raleigh: "We were scattered across North Carolina. I was living in Raleigh on friends' couches, Gerrit was in Greenville and Sam was in Asheville, which was five hours away."
[
] Between November 2007 and June 2008,
Future Islands—encouraged by
Dan Deacon
Daniel Deacon (born August 28, 1981) is an American composer and electronic musician based in Baltimore, Maryland.
Deacon is renowned for his live shows, where large-scale audience participation and interaction is often a major element of the pe ...
and Benny Boeldt from Baltimore band Adventure
—relocated to Baltimore.
Cashion moved in November, Herring in January and finally Welmers.
There, they could have access to cheap rent, be part of a supportive community and be closer to cities like New York and Washington, which allowed them to tour more extensively.
During the first half of 2008, the band added another drummer, Sam Ortiz from the Baltimore band Thrust Lab,
who left weeks before the start of their first national tour in late July.
On August 5, 2008, the band released the track "Follow You (Pangea Version)" as part of a split 7-inch with Deacon, through the label 307 Knox Records. Future Islands' track on the EP "Follow You (Pangea version)" was recorded in April 2006 at the Bonque house in Greenville, North Carolina during the Pangea sessions: the band's first proper session with Chester Endersby Gwazda.
London-based label
Upset The Rhythm
Upset The Rhythm is an independent record label based in London with a varied roster of leftfield artists and bands; they also operate as a diverse DIY live music promoter. Huw Stephens featured Upset The Rhythm as "purveyors of interesting indi ...
released ''Wave Like Home'' on August 25, 2008, which made sales difficult in the US due to the import costs. The cover art was designed by Kymia Nawabi, a former member of Art Lord & the Self-Portraits.
She also designed the cover art of the ''Feathers and Hallways'' 7-inch
which was recorded in
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
, on July 21, 2008, during their first U.S. tour. Produced by Chester Endersby Gwazda, it was released on April 15, 2009, by Upset The Rhythm. This single was their first release as a focused three-piece: "We have definitely talked about adding a drummer at some point, when the time is right, but right now it just makes sense to be a three piece if, for nothing else, the fact that it is really easy to tour as a three piece. We really have very little gear. We really just have PA speakers for the keyboard and a bass amp."
2008–2010: ''In Evening Air''
![Future_Islands,_Kosmonaut_Festival_2015_05](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/Future_Islands%2C_Kosmonaut_Festival_2015_05.JPG)
The strain of the band's first two consecutive national tours led to the end of Herring's long-term relationship in late 2008.
This became the theme of Future Islands' second album ''
In Evening Air'' whose first songs were written right after the breakup. In early 2009, the band toured Europe for the first time. The song "Tin Man" took the band through
Dan Deacon
Daniel Deacon (born August 28, 1981) is an American composer and electronic musician based in Baltimore, Maryland.
Deacon is renowned for his live shows, where large-scale audience participation and interaction is often a major element of the pe ...
's ''
Bromst
''Bromst'' is the second studio album by the American electronic musician Dan Deacon. It was released on March 24, 2009.
Background
According to Deacon: "''Spiderman of the Rings'' was very carefree and youthful – sort of partying for the ...
'' US and European tour.
Later that year, the band signed to independent record company
Thrill Jockey
Thrill Jockey is an American independent record label established by former Atlantic Records A&R representative Bettina Richards and based in Chicago.
History
Richards started the label in 1992 with $35,000 of family and personal capital, while ...
. It was
Double Dagger
A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species). It is one of the modern descendan ...
's bassist Bruce Willen who was responsible for giving the label a demo that contained early mixes of "Tin Man", "Walking Through That Door", "Long Flight" and "As I Fall".
Future Islands began writing the rest of the album after Whartscape 2009
and recorded it in the band's living room
in the historic
Marble Hill neighborhood in
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
, with Chester Enderby Gwazda in July 2009.
Released May 4, 2010, the cover art was again designed by Kymia Nawabi.
In February 2010, Future Islands released through the NYC art collective Free Danger the EP ''The Post Office Chapel Wave''
with remixes by Pictureplane, Javelin, Jones and Moss Of Aura, and collaborations with No Age and Victoria Legrand from
Beach House
Beach House is an American musical duo formed in Baltimore, Maryland in 2004. The band consists of Victoria Legrand (vocals, keyboards) and Alex Scally (guitar, keyboard, backing vocals).
Their self-titled debut album was released in 2006 to ...
.
Future Islands debut with Thrill Jockey was the EP ''In the Fall'' released in April 2010 and produced by Chester Enderby Gwazda. Its title track featured vocals by Katrina Ford from
Celebration. The EP also included an extended version of "Tin Man", a 2007 track "Virgo Distracts" and "Awake and Dreaming" which had been written for ''In Evening Air'' but did not fit the mood of the album. The cover art was shot by Bruce Willen from Post Typography.
Interested in expanding their sound, on July 7, 2010, the band recorded ''Undressed'', an acoustic EP at Mobtown Studios,
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
for a radio broadcast.
Produced by Mat Leffler-Schulman, the art cover was again designed by Kymia Nawabi. Played live at an art opening and at Whartscape 2010,
the EP was released in September of that year: "We had been talking about arranging and performing an acoustic show for a while, and in the summer of 2010, Elena Johnston and Natasha Tylea invited us to do an acoustic performance at the opening of the "Wild Nothing" photography show that they curated. We got some friends together and figured out the acoustic versions."
On November 4, 2010, Future Islands released a split 7-inch with the
Raleigh
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...
band Lonnie Walker featuring the track "The Ink Well". The cover art was by Elena Johnston and the single lead to the creation of the Baltimore independent label Friends Records.
2011–2012: ''On the Water''
![Future_Islands_2012](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Future_Islands_2012.jpg)
Following a year of solid touring, Future Islands recorded their third album ''
On the Water'' in
Elizabeth City
Elizabeth City is a city in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 18,629. Elizabeth City is the county seat and largest city of Pasquotank County. It is the cultural, economic and educ ...
, North Carolina, between late May and early June 2011 with producer Chester Endersby Gwazda. William Cashion commented "Being secluded and free from distractions was the most important aspect of our going to North Carolina. Our friend Abe
anders
Anders is a male name in Scandinavian languages and Fering, Fering North Frisian, an equivalent of the Greek Andreas ("manly") and the English Andrew. It originated from Andres (name), Andres via metathesis (linguistics), metathesis.
In Sweden, A ...
pretty much let us take over his house for ten days, and that gave us a lot of freedom to focus on writing and recording."
Not wanting to be pigeonholed, the band went against the expectation generated by ''
In Evening Air'', and the upbeat tone of the previous album was followed by a slow-burning record.
Welmers' dance-floor-ready synthesizer and Cashion's uptempo bass were stripped down.
The tone of the lyrics changed, according to Herring: "Because I didn't have that same anger, so I don't write about it."
Friction between the band and
Thrill Jockey
Thrill Jockey is an American independent record label established by former Atlantic Records A&R representative Bettina Richards and based in Chicago.
History
Richards started the label in 1992 with $35,000 of family and personal capital, while ...
started to appear during the recording sessions, as Herring commented: "We had some issues. There was someone from the label hanging around talking about deadlines. Can we not talk about business while writing a song? Do you want it to be a good album, or do you want it to come out on time?"
Pressured by their label, the band rushed the mix and promotion of the album.
The lead single "Before the Bridge/Find Love" was released on July 19, 2011, and the album on October 11, 2011. It featured a duet with
Jenn Wasner
Jennifer Lynn Wasner (born April 16, 1986) is an American musician from Baltimore, Maryland. Wasner is best known as one of the founding members of the band Wye Oak, along with Andy Stack. They have performed on tour with notable bands such as ...
from
Wye Oak
The Wye Oak was the largest white oak tree in the United States and the State Tree of Maryland from 1941 until its demise in 2002. Wye Oak State Park preserves the site where the revered tree stood for more than 400 years in the town of Wye M ...
on the track "The Great Fire"
and the art cover was designed by Baltimore artist Elena Johnston.
After one year of touring ''On the Water'', the band broke ties with their label.
On July 17, 2012, Future Islands released a charity split single with Baltimore band Ed Schrader's Music Beat through Famous Class records, featuring the song "Cotton Flower" and on September 3, 2012, they released the single "Tomorrow/The Fountain" through their previous label—Upset the Rhythm.
2013–2015: ''Singles''
Having toured for five consecutive years,
in 2013 Future Islands was finally able to afford taking a break from the road, to write their fourth album:
"We sank everything we had into
'Singles'' It's definitely our most polished record. We were able to take time off the road because of the money we had saved from years of touring, so were able to write while not under the pressure of being in between tours."
They started writing in February 2013
in a rented hunting cabin in rural North Carolina, while rehearsing for the ten-year anniversary of Art Lord & the Self-Portraits' first show. About the writing process, Herring described: "We ended up demoing about 24 or 25 songs, then went into the studio and decided to do 13 of those, and by the end of it we decided it would be a ten-track record. The writing process started in February – there were two or three songs that we had from the year before that we'd demoed – we stopped writing in the last week of July, and went into the studio in the first week of August. So there was a good five and a half, six months of writing, and getting together two or three times a week over that period to just jam and see what came up."
The band financed the album and recorded it at the Dreamland studios in
Hurley, New York
Hurley is a town in Ulster County, New York, United States. The population was 6,178 at the 2020 census. The town is in the northeastern part of the county, west of the city of Kingston. Much of the town is inside the Catskill Park. Located wi ...
, in August 2013 with producer
Chris Coady
Chris Coady (born June 5, 1978) is an American record producer and mixing engineer who is best known for his work with Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, Deadbeat Darling, Grizzly Bear, Beach House, Blonde Redhead and others.
Since moving to New Y ...
. In early 2014, the Future Islands announced they had signed a three-album deal to
4AD, who released ''
Singles
Singles are people not in a committed relationship.
Singles may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series
* ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe
* ''Singles'' ...
'' on March 24, 2014. The cover art was by mixed media artist Beth Hoeckel.
The band made their network television début on March 3, 2014, on ''
The Late Show with David Letterman
The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...
'', performing the lead single "
Seasons (Waiting on You)
"Seasons (Waiting on You)" is a song by American synthpop band Future Islands. It is the opening track on their fourth studio album ''Singles'', and was released as the album's lead single on February 4, 2014. The song received much critical accl ...
".
Their performance on the show, particularly Herring's onstage antics, became an internet success, and garnered millions of views on YouTube. "Seasons (Waiting on You)" was eventually named the best song of 2014 by
Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog.
Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
,
the
Pazz & Jop
Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper ''The Village Voice'' and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year abse ...
critics' poll, and
Consequence of Sound
''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...
. The success of the album lead the ''Singles'' tour to extend itself until November 2015.
In February 2015, Future Islands wrote the single "The Chase"/"Haunted by You" and recorded it in March with producer
Jim Eno
Jim Eno (born February 8, 1966) is the drummer and one of the founding members of the Austin, Texas band Spoon. He is also a record producer and a semiconductor chip designer. Eno is not related to sound engineer and record producer Brian Eno; ...
at Public Hi-Fi,
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...
.
The single was released on April 29, 2015, with a cover art by Lesser Gonzalez Alvarez.
2016–2019: ''The Far Field''
In 2016, Future Islands took a break from touring and started writing their fifth album in January, in the small beach town of Avon, in the
Outer Banks
The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separating ...
,
North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
.
William Cashion stated: "We got a beach house on the outer banks of North Carolina in the dead of winter. There was nobody there but us. You could look out of any window of this four-storey house and you'd be able to see the ocean. We set up in the living room, we'd get up every day and start jamming after our morning coffee and just go all day. We wrote about eight songs there, and about three of them made it onto the record. From that point on, we'd get together in chunks – we'd go to our rehearsal space in Baltimore, or over to Gerrit's place or to my home studio. We tried to just write the way that we always have."
The band tested their songs live in August playing under different names: The Hidden Haven, named after the beach house where they started writing the album; ''
This Old House
''This Old House'' is an American home improvement media brand with television shows, a magazine, and a websiteThisOldHouse.com. The brand is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. The television series airs on the American television networ ...
'', after the TV show Herring watched when growing up; and Chirping Bush, inspired by a disturbing dream Welmers had about a bunch of birds who could not get out of a bush.
"We wanted to do little shows, but we didn't want any attention for the shows; we wanted to kind of do it under the radar."
Future Islands recorded ''
The Far Field'' in November 2016 at the
Sunset Sound Recorders
Sunset Sound Recorders is a recording studio in Hollywood, California, United States located at 6650 Sunset Boulevard.
Background
The Sunset Sound Recorders complex was created by Walt Disney's Director of Recording, Tutti Camarata, from a collec ...
studio in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, with producer
John Congleton
John Congleton is an American Grammy Award-winning record producer, engineer, mixer, writer and musician.
In addition to his production work, Congleton has fronted the alternative rock band the Paper Chase, and writes music for a newer project e ...
.
The album was released on April 7, 2017, and its lead single "Ran" came out on January 31, 2017, followed by the single "Cave" on March 24. The album featured a duet with
Blondie's
Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981.
Born in ...
. As in the album ''
In Evening Air'', the title comes from
Theodore Roethke
Theodore Huebner Roethke ( ; May 25, 1908 – August 1, 1963) was an American poet. He is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential poets of his generation, having won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1954 for his book ''The Wa ...
's poetry work and the cover art — a piece titled ''Chrysanthemum Trance'' — is again by Kymia Nawabi.
On September 1, 2019, the band previewed seven new songs during a show at the Pearl Street Nightclub
in Northampton, Massachusetts. According to
Stereogum
''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine.
''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...
, the unreleased tracks were "The Painter", "Hit The Coast", "Born In A War", "Days" (which would later be titled "Thrill"), "Birmingham" (which would later be titled "Waking"), "Plastic Beach" and "Moonlight".
2020–present: ''As Long as You Are''
On July 8, 2020, the band released the new track "For Sure" with an accompanying video. On August 12, 2020, the band announced their album ''
As Long as You Are'' would be released on October 8, 2020, and simultaneously released the single "Thrill". On September 15, 2020, they released the track "Moonlight" which is also on the album. The track "For Sure" was featured on the soundtrack of
MLB The Show 21
''MLB The Show 21'' is a baseball video game by San Diego Studio and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment, based on Major League Baseball (MLB). It was released for the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5, as well as the Xbox One and Xbox Ser ...
. It was also included on the soundtrack of
eFootball 2022
''eFootball'' is an association football simulation video game developed and published by Konami. It is a free-to-play game after being completely rebranded from the original ''Pro Evolution Soccer'' (known as ''Winning Eleven'' in Japan) ser ...
.
The band premiered a remix of the single "For Sure" by
Dan Deacon
Daniel Deacon (born August 28, 1981) is an American composer and electronic musician based in Baltimore, Maryland.
Deacon is renowned for his live shows, where large-scale audience participation and interaction is often a major element of the pe ...
on January 19, 2021.
Future Islands appeared on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert on 15 February, 2022, performing 'King of Sweden'.
Artistry
Musical style and influences
Future Islands' music style has been tagged as
synth-pop
Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...
, but the band has routinely rejected that classification, considering themselves as "post-wave",
by combining the romanticism of
new wave with the power and drive of
post-punk
Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad genre of punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and non-roc ...
.
The band's members came from very different musical backgrounds and sensibilities: Sam Herring grew up performing
hip-hop, Gerrit Welmers was into
punk rock and
heavy metal and William Cashion was into
indie rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...
,
grunge
Grunge (sometimes referred to as the Seattle sound) is an alternative rock genre and subculture that emerged during the in the American Pacific Northwest state of Washington, particularly in Seattle and nearby towns. Grunge fuses elements of p ...
,
krautrock
Krautrock (also called , German for ) is a broad genre of experimental rock
Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments ...
and new wave, so a lot of the band's synth-pop influences come from him. Cashion was also a big fan of
The Cure
The Cure are an English Rock music, rock band formed in 1978 in Crawley, Crawley, West Sussex. Throughout numerous lineup changes since the band's formation, guitarist, lead vocalist, and songwriter Robert Smith (musician), Robert Smith has re ...
and
The Smashing Pumpkins
The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Chamb ...
, and was influenced by bassists
Peter Hook
Peter Hook (born Woodhead; 13 February 1956) is an English musician, best known as the bassist and co-founder of the rock bands Joy Division and New Order. Hook often used the bass as a lead instrument, playing melodies on the high strings wi ...
from
Joy Division
Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris.
Sumner and Hook formed the band after attend ...
and
New Order, and
Kim Deal
Kimberley Ann Deal (born June 10, 1961) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She was the bassist and the co-vocalist in the alternative rock band Pixies, before forming the Breeders in 1989.
Deal joined Pixies in January ...
from
The Pixies
Pixies is an American alternative rock band formed in 1986, in Boston, Massachusetts. Until 2013, the band consisted of Black Francis (vocals, rhythm guitar, songwriter), Joey Santiago (lead guitar), Kim Deal (bass, vocals) and David Lovering ...
and
The Breeders
The Breeders are an American alternative rock band based in Dayton, Ohio, consisting of members Kim Deal (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), her twin sister Kelley Deal (lead guitar, vocals), Josephine Wiggs (bass guitar, vocals) and Jim Macpherson ...
.
While Welmers and Herring found common ground through
Danzig and
Kool Keith
Keith Matthew Thornton (born October 7, 1963), better known by his stage name Kool Keith, is an American rapper and record producer from The Bronx, New York City, known for his surreal, abstract and often profane or incomprehensible lyrics. Kool ...
,
it was through
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk (, "power station") is a German band formed in Düsseldorf in 1970 by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider. Widely considered innovators and pioneers of electronic music, Kraftwerk were among the first successful acts to popularize the ...
's "
Trans-Europe Express" which was sampled by
Afrika Bambaataa
Lance Taylor (born on April 17, 1957), also known as Afrika Bambaataa (), is an American DJ, rapper, and producer from the South Bronx, New York. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenc ...
that Cashion and Herring found some common ground when forming the Art Lord & the Self-Portraits.
[
] They explained:
"Our early influences were Kraftwerk and Joy Division and New Order, so it all kind of came from those sounds ... We were just using what we had at our disposal to create, and that were old Casio and Yamaha keyboards and a borrowed bass guitar, borrowed amps. We scraped together what we could to make music with, weird shakers and sound makers and stuff, and that just kind of lead us down a road. These kinds of things defined us early on and we kept with that sound, kept painting with that palette."
[
]
Herring named
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) are an English electronic music, electronic band formed in Wirral Peninsula, Wirral, Merseyside, in 1978. The group consists of co-founders Andy McCluskey (vocals, bass guitar) and Paul Humphreys (keyboar ...
(OMD) as "one of the biggest influences on Future Islands". He said of their 1983 album, ''
Dazzle Ships'', "We all just fell in love with it. We couldn't stop listening to it, and it really just became a huge inspiration and influence in creating our second album ''
In Evening Air''."
Cashion affirmed that the entire band has drawn inspiration from OMD's "immense heart and soul".
Songwriting and vocals
In Future Islands writing process, Gerrit Welmers and William Cashion develop the music which Sam Herring responds to with the lyrics.
Herring's sad lyrics often contrast with the upbeat mood of the music. He explains: "Where the songs have always been kind of upbeat and happy, the message is often melancholy. I like it that way, people's natural instinct is to let their guards down and dance, and then they actually let the words seep in. Instead of turning away from the darkness, they embrace the light and find the darkness. I think the opposite is true too."
Literary influences on Herring's writing include poet
Theodore Roethke
Theodore Huebner Roethke ( ; May 25, 1908 – August 1, 1963) was an American poet. He is regarded as one of the most accomplished and influential poets of his generation, having won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1954 for his book ''The Wa ...
—whose anthology ''The Far Field'' names Future Islands' 2017 album and includes the "In Evening Air" poem that names their 2010 album
—and poet
Jack Gilbert
Jack Gilbert (February 18, 1925 – November 13, 2012) was an American poet. Gilbert was acquainted with Jack Spicer and Allen Ginsberg, both prominent figureheads of the Beat Movement, but is not considered a Beat Poet; he described himself as ...
: whose poem and anthology "The Great Fires" names one of the band's songs. Herring also admitted being influenced by
Italo Calvino
Italo Calvino (, also , ;. RAI (circa 1970), retrieved 25 October 2012. 15 October 1923 – 19 September 1985) was an Italian writer and journalist. His best known works include the ''Our Ancestors'' trilogy (1952–1959), the '' Cosmicomi ...
's prose during the time he wrote the single "The Fountain".
In the spring of 2014, Sam Herring was diagnosed with
Reinke's edema
Reinke's edema is the swelling of the vocal cords due to fluid (edema) collected within the Reinke's space. First identified by the German anatomist Friedrich B. Reinke in 1895, the Reinke's space is a gelatinous layer of the vocal cord located un ...
.
According to him "There's four causes. Acid reflux, smoking, talking too much or overuse of the vocal cords, and then chronic misuse of the vocal cords ... which is how I sing. So, basically, I was four for four." Herring started compensating for the fact that he can no longer hit certain notes by growling, which in turn became distinctive on his vocals.
Live performances
![Future_Islands,_Kosmonaut_Festival_2015_02](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Future_Islands%2C_Kosmonaut_Festival_2015_02.JPG)
More than a studio band, Future Islands define themselves as a live band and have toured extensively. Frontman Sam Herring is known by his stage performances. According to William Cashion "A lot of the energy of the show comes from the audience. If the audience is putting off energy, we're able to bounce it back. It's like a feedback loop. If the audience is there with us and they're giving us their energy, then it'll be easy for us to find it."
The style and presentation of the
Art Lord & the Self-Portraits was determined by the art school backgrounds of its members: the band was meant to be a performance art piece. Herring has cited
Ian Curtis
Ian Kevin Curtis (15 July 1956 – 18 May 1980) was an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He was best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and lyricist of the post-punk band Joy Division, with whom he released the albums ''Unknown P ...
,
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honor ...
and
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...
.
as influences but his background in performance art and conceptual art also became reflected in his stage presence, even for Future Islands.
"I fell in love with performance art when I was 17 and that was the thing that I found: I just would sit and draw for 20 hours straight and make this thing photorealistic and then put it on a board and then people see it and that's it, or you can stand on the street and perform for 30 minutes with some weird thing you came up with off the top of your head, act out a play to no one but people are going to walk by and you're going to get a reaction. They may not get what you're doing or care about what you're doing, but there's something, you sparked something in their heads. And that's an exciting thing, to look into people's eyes. There's no expectation—you can create a memory for people, like I said, good or bad. It can grab people and that's a cool thing."
Herring's dedication to stage performance has not been without physical consequenses. When touring Europe as part of the Dan Deacon Ensemble supporting the album ''
Bromst
''Bromst'' is the second studio album by the American electronic musician Dan Deacon. It was released on March 24, 2009.
Background
According to Deacon: "''Spiderman of the Rings'' was very carefree and youthful – sort of partying for the ...
'', Herring was tackled by a drunken spectator in
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
.
Six months later he realized he had torn his
anterior cruciate ligament
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...
and underwent surgery in February 2010,
continuing to perform shows in the following months wearing a knee brace, which can be seen on the June 24, 2010
Amoeba
An amoeba (; less commonly spelled ameba or amœba; plural ''am(o)ebas'' or ''am(o)ebae'' ), often called an amoeboid, is a type of Cell (biology), cell or unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and ret ...
show footage. In 2014 Herring passed out at the airport on his way to
Primavera festival due to exhaustion. Being revived by medics, he still made his plane and played the show that night. In 2015, he tore a
meniscus
Meniscus may refer to:
*Meniscus (anatomy), crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure that partly divides a joint cavity
*Meniscus (liquid)
The meniscus (plural: ''menisci'', from the Greek for "crescent") is the curve in the upper surface ...
while doing a knee drop when opening for
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...
at
Red Rocks
Red Rocks Amphitheatre (also colloquially as simply Red Rocks) is an open-air amphitheatre built into a rock structure in the western United States, near Morrison, Colorado, west of Denver. There is a large, tilted, disc-shaped rock behind th ...
on July 16,
but the band completed the remaining four months of the ''
Singles
Singles are people not in a committed relationship.
Singles may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series
* ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe
* ''Singles'' ...
'' tour.
Cover artwork
Coming from an art background Future Islands attribute importance to their albums' cover artwork. William Cashion stated: "I think having good artwork is a big deal for any record. I think if a record has bad artwork I will just dismiss it, I just won't even give it a chance. I think a lot of people share that opinion, that artwork is very important."
Future Islands' cover artwork has been delegated to different artists, as Sam Herring explains: "As projects pop up, we decide what artistic styles best speak to the music and the medium, then decide on artists. We primarily choose friends' work, though, people who we've become intimate with as friends. I think that pulls something deeper out of the whole, working with loved ones. You give birth to something bigger than yourself when you involve other people's ideas and minds. That's always a good thing."
Kymia Nawabi made the cover art for ''Wave Like Home'', ''Feathers & Hallways (single)'', ''
In Evening Air'', ''Undressed (EP)'', ''
The Far Field''. She is the most recurrent artist and is based in Brooklyn. She was a band member of the proto-Future Islands band
Art Lord & the Self-Portraits and directed the video of "Walking Through that Door" in stop-motion animation. William Cashion commented "Our friend Kymia ... as I said, we write and record in our own world and she kind of makes ... her artwork is definitely in her own world, in a way. The images she uses are all her own. We went to college with her and we've always admired her work and we love working with her. She also did the cover for the new EP and the Feathers & Hallways EP. We definitely put a lot of weight on the art, and we want to make the albums look as good as they sound."
Elena Johnston created the cover art for ''
On the Water'', ''Future Islands / Lonnie Walker'' split 7-inch, ''Dream of You and Me'' single. She co-directed with William Cashion the video of "Dream of You and Me" and is the creator of the large canvas seen in the background of the interior scenes of the video "Ran".
About the ''
On the Water'' art cover William Cashion stated: "We decided that we wanted the album art to be loose and abstract for this album ... We wanted washes of color. The cover is actually an excerpt of a painting that Elena had already created."
In another interview he added "It was great working with her. The piece wasn't made specifically for the album. We chose it from a series of paintings and drawings. She handled most of the typography on the album as well."
Band members
Current members
* William Cashion – bass, guitars
(2006–present)
*
Samuel T. Herring – lead vocals
(2006–present)
* Gerrit Welmers – keyboards, programming
(2006–present)
* Michael Lowry – drums
(2020–present; touring musician 2014–2019)
Former members
* Erick Murillo – drums
(2006–2007)
* Samuel N. Ortiz-Payero – drums
(2008)
*
Denny Bowen
Double Dagger is a post-punk trio from Baltimore, Maryland composed of only drums, vocals, and a very loud bass guitar which fills the space a guitar would normally take. Vocalist Nolen Strals and bassist Bruce Willen also comprised the graphic d ...
– drums
(2009–2013 in studio; 2013–2014 touring)
Timeline
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Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3
Colors =
id:vocals value:red legend:Lead_vocals
id:keyboards value:purple legend:Keyboards
id:programming value:lavender legend:Programming
id:bass value:blue legend:Bass,_guitars
id:drums value:orange legend:Drums
id:touring value:yelloworange legend:Touring_musician
id:studio value:black legend:Studio_albums
LineData =
at:25/08/2008 color:black layer:back
at:04/05/2010 color:black layer:back
at:11/10/2011 color:black layer:back
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at:07/04/2017 color:black layer:back
at:09/10/2020 color:black layer:back
BarData =
bar:Herring text:Samuel T. Herring
bar:Welmers text:Gerrit Welmers
bar:Cashion text:William Cashion
bar:Murillo text:Erick Murillo
bar:Ortiz text:Samuel Ortiz-Payero
bar:Bowen text:Denny Bowen
bar:Lowry text:Michael Lowry
PlotData=
width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
bar:Welmers from:01/01/2006 till:end color:keyboards
bar:Welmers from:20/07/2008 till:end color:programming width:3
bar:Cashion from:01/01/2006 till:end color:bass
bar:Herring from:01/01/2006 till:end color:vocals
bar:Murillo from:01/01/2006 till:01/11/2007 color:drums
bar:Ortiz from:11/01/2008 till:12/07/2008 color:drums
bar:Bowen from:01/04/2009 till:09/01/2013 color:drums
bar:Bowen from:05/11/2013 till:20/11/2013 color:drums
bar:Bowen from:05/11/2013 till:20/11/2013 color:touring width:3
bar:Bowen from:01/04/2014 till:08/06/2014 color:drums
bar:Bowen from:01/04/2014 till:08/06/2014 color:touring width:3
bar:Lowry from:03/02/2014 till:31/03/2014 color:drums
bar:Lowry from:03/02/2014 till:31/03/2014 color:touring width:3
bar:Lowry from:19/06/2014 till:end color:drums
bar:Lowry from:19/06/2014 till:01/01/2020 color:touring width:3
Touring
![Future_Islands,_Kosmonaut_Festival_2015_12](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e5/Future_Islands%2C_Kosmonaut_Festival_2015_12.JPG)
Future Islands has performed over 1,000 shows in their first 10 years.
Since 2013, the band has included a drummer in its tours. In late 2013 and early 2014 it was
Double Dagger
A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species). It is one of the modern descendan ...
's former drummer Denny Bowen who had already played drums and percussion on Future Islands albums ''
In Evening Air'', ''
On the Water'' and ''
Singles
Singles are people not in a committed relationship.
Singles may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series
* ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe
* ''Singles'' ...
'' among some EPs and singles. In the spring of 2014, due to tour schedule conflicts between Future Islands and his own band
Roomrunner
Roomrunner was a noise rock group from Baltimore, Maryland, fronted by Denny Bowen, formerly of Double Dagger (band), Double Dagger, Yukon (band), Yukon, and Dan Deacon, The Dan Deacon Ensemble. The group also included prominent Baltimore record ...
, Bowen was replaced by Mike Lowry from Baltimore bands
Lake Trout
The lake trout (''Salvelinus namaycush'') is a freshwater char living mainly in lakes in northern North America. Other names for it include mackinaw, namaycush, lake char (or charr), touladi, togue, and grey trout. In Lake Superior, it can also ...
and Mt. Royal. Lowry was also part of
The Far Field studio sessions.
"Our shows are all about creating a really energetic vibe, a physical thing, and we want more people to move – that's the big thing. We either want them to move, or be moved by the music. It was never weird to us that we didn't have a drummer, but to some people it was – they'd be like: "Where the hell are the drums coming from?"
Future Islands have opened for
Morrissey
Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...
,
Grace Jones
Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for ...
,
Phantogram Phantogram may refer to:
*Phantogram (band)
*Phantogram (optical illusion)
Phantograms, also known as Phantaglyphs, Op-Ups, free-standing anaglyphs, levitated images, and book anaglyphs, are a form of optical illusion. Phantograms use perspectiv ...
,
Titus Andronicus
''Titus Andronicus'' is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593, probably in collaboration with George Peele. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy and is often seen ...
and
Okkervil River
Okkervil River is an American rock band led by singer-songwriter Will Sheff. Formed in Austin, Texas, in 1998, the band takes its name from a short story by Russian author Tatyana Tolstaya set on the river Okkervil in Saint Petersburg. They bega ...
.
They have performed at festivals such as Latitude, Great Escape,
Primavera Sound
Primavera Sound (commonly referred to as simply Primavera) is an annual music festival held in Parc del Fòrum in Barcelona, Spain that takes place between the end of May and beginning of June. The first edition took place in 2001 in Poble Espany ...
, Glastonbury, Coachella, Øyafestivalen, Sziget, Bonnaroo, Sasquatch!, and SXSW, among others.
Discography
As Future Islands
Studio albums
*''Wave Like Home'' (2008)
*''
In Evening Air'' (2010)
*''
On the Water'' (2011)
*''
Singles
Singles are people not in a committed relationship.
Singles may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series
* ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe
* ''Singles'' ...
'' (2014)
*''
The Far Field'' (2017)
*''
As Long as You Are'' (2020)
As Art Lord & the Self-Portraits
;Studio albums
*''Searching for a Complement'' (self-released - August 2003; digital rerelease by Thrill Jockey)
*''In Your Boombox'' (self-released - October 2003; digital rerelease by Thrill Jockey)
*''Ideas for Housecrafts'' (self-released - February 2004; digital rerelease by Thrill Jockey)
*''Snail'' (self-released - 2005; digital rerelease by Thrill Jockey)
;Live albums
*''Art Lord and the Self Portraits Live At Cat's Cradle 10/29/2004'' (digital-only - 2004)
;Compilation albums
*''The Essential Art Lord & The Self - Portraits'' (self-release 2005)
*''In Your Idea Box'' (digital-only "best-of" release 307 Knox Records - September 2008)
*''The Definitive Collection 2xLP'' (Friends Records - February 2013)
[
]
;Compilation appearances
*"Sad Apples, Dance!" featured on ''Compilation Vol. 2: Songs from North Carolina'' (Poxworld Empire)
Related projects
Moss of Aura
Keyboardist Gerrit Welmers has been writing solo as 'Moss of Aura' since 2006. After releasing five albums on cassette, Moss of Aura released the LP ''Wading'' in 2012 and ''We'll All Collide'' in 2016 through Friends Records.
The Snails
In 2008, Sam Herring and William Cashion started a parallel project called
The Snails
The Snails is an American rock band with touches of post-punk, ska and reggae, based in Baltimore, Maryland. It is currently composed of Sandy Snailbelow, Snailliam, Sammy Snail (also known as Snamuel or Snammy), Snailburne, Snailbraham, Snailrel ...
with members of other
Baltimore
Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...
bands. Their releases took place during Future Islands tour breaks: debut EP ''Worth the Wait'' came out in April 2013. In February 2016, they released their debut album ''Songs from The Shoebox''.
Peals
In early 2012, William Cashion formed
Peals
The Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Centre (PEALS) was established in 1999 as a partnership between the University of Durham, Newcastle University and the Centre for Life
The Centre for Life is a science village in Newcastle upon T ...
with
Double Dagger
A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species). It is one of the modern descendan ...
's former bassist Bruce Willen, releasing their debut album ''Walking Field'' in May 2013. In 2016 they released the album ''Honey'' through Friends Records.
Samuel T. Herring and Hemlock Ernst
Samuel T. Herring uses the stage name
Hemlock Ernst
Samuel T. Herring (born April 13, 1984), also known as Hemlock Ernst, is an American singer and rapper from Baltimore, Maryland, best known for being the frontman of the synth-pop band Future Islands. He was also a member of Art Lord & the Self- ...
when performing rap, the name Ernst coming from his Art Lord & the Self-Portraits character.
He has appeared on collaborative hip-hop releases by
Milo
Milo may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Milo'' (magazine), a strength sports magazine
*'' Milo: Sticky Notes and Brain Freeze'', a 2011 children's novel by Alan Silberberg
* ''Milo'' (video game), a first-person adventure-puzzle computer ga ...
/
Scallops Hotel,
Busdriver
Regan Farquhar (born February 12, 1978), better known by his stage name Busdriver, is an American rapper and producer from Los Angeles, California. He has collaborated with rappers such as Myka 9, Milo, Nocando, Open Mike Eagle, 2Mex, and Radioi ...
,
Open Mike Eagle
Michael W. Eagle II (born November 14, 1980), better known by his stage name Open Mike Eagle, is an American hip hop artist and comedian. Originally from Chicago, Illinois, he is now based in Los Angeles, California, where he is a member of the h ...
among others. He teamed up with producer
Madlib
Otis Jackson Jr. (born October 24, 1973), known professionally as Madlib, is an American DJ, music producer, multi-instrumentalist, and rapper. He is widely known for his collaborations with MF DOOM (as Madvillain), J Dilla (as Jaylib), and Fr ...
for a rap project named Trouble knows Me, they released an EP in 2015.
As Samuel T. Herring, he has collaborated with
Double Dagger
A dagger, obelisk, or obelus is a typographical mark that usually indicates a footnote if an asterisk has already been used. The symbol is also used to indicate death (of people) or extinction (of species). It is one of the modern descendan ...
, Microkingdom,
Beth Jeans Houghton/Du Blonde, Gangrene,
BadBadNotGood
BadBadNotGood (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian instrumental band and production team from Toronto, Canada. The group was founded in 2010 by bassist Chester Hansen, keyboardist Matthew Tavares, and drummer Alexander Sowinski. In 2016, they wer ...
,
Clams Casino and
Celebration.
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Official website*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Future Islands
American synth-pop groups
Indie pop groups from Maryland
Musical groups from Baltimore
Musical groups established in 2006
4AD artists
Thrill Jockey artists