North Carolina band Future Islands may be better suited than some to an extended period without playing concerts, having first found fame with a video clip. After forming in 2006, they didn’t have much in the way of wider impact until they made their TV debut on The Late Show with David Letterman in 2014. The public’s first close look at frontman Samuel T. Herring — a magnetic mix of Shakespearean theatricality, tearful crooning and terrifying death metal growling — became the most-viewed clip on the chat show’s YouTube page.
The group still relies on Herring’s intensity, but the whole band, including drummer, co-writer and new official member Mike Lowry, have stepped up to a higher level. The sound, though still dominated by Gerrit Welmers’s vintage synths and the racing basslines of William Cashion, feels fuller than before.
Herring, now engaged to an actress and living in Sweden, sings of his contentment on For Sure. His vocal eccentricities are less pronounced now, though there are still a few powerful howls to be heard towards the end of Born in a War.
Those who have stuck with them beyond that sudden burst of fame will be rewarded with some of their best work.
