Anyone who witnessed Samuel Herring’s manic dancing on the David Letterman show should be eagerly anticipating the release of Future Islands‘ new album Singles which is out on 25th March.
The recorded version of Seasons, the song they performed on Letterman, is slightly more restrained with none of the Waitsian growls that Herring specialises in but it’s still a great song.
The boppy 80s synch pop backing is quite at odds with his passionate, soulful vocals but somehow it works brilliantly.
I’ve a feeling I’ll be streaming this to death in the coming weeks.
Cover images of my top 15 favourite albums of 2011.
2011 was without a doubt P.J.Harvey‘s year. Let England Shake was the best album by a mile and her interviews and concerts confirmed her as an artist at the top of her game.
Otherwise, this was a year for renewing old acquaintances rather than making fresh discoveries.
The welcome return of Gillian Welch (and Dave Rawlings) was an event and the album proved well worth the eight year wait.
It was also a nice surprise that Charalambides released another Kranky studio work, a belated follow-up to 2007’s Likeness and as consistently excellent as ever. Continue reading →
I posted a video of the brilliant Baltimore trio Future Islands a while back and make no apology for posting another.
‘Before The Bridge’ is a track from the band’s forthcoming album On The Water released by Thrill Jockey records. It was directed by Abe Sanders who I presume is the same Abe who used to play drums for Jan Hunter’s band Lower Dens,
I find the video to be magical, mesmerising – so full of life and colour. It was shot in and near the house where the album was recorded earlier this year in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The house was built in 1914 and was home to Abe’s uncle Andrew Sanders, who ran the shipyard across the street. The book and scissors featured in the video have been there since.
I’m really hooked on this song by the Baltimore trio Future Islands, all the more so after watching them perform it on You Tube. Samuel Herring has a remarkable voice – very mannered and thespian, like an English gentleman press-ganged into rock’n’roll.
This, together with the poetic drama of the song, make it irresistible.
It comes from their album An Evening Air on Thrill Jockey and a stripped down version also appears on a limited edition 12″ EP called Undressed. Here is the video (+ lyrics)
This is what I know / The canopy loss of our home / Is a far cry, while I’m away.
Tethered to finding a rope / We walk in precarious ways / And go alone at night / To Misery’s bed./In Misery’s bed, we stay.
So far away
Here in the tremble and pulse / With the rush and the weight of the world / I am a cannibal, known /Begging the lashes to break
You find me awake in a dream / A scream in the dark, so it seems / Or is that just how it leaves?
The shadow I cast now the breeze.
So far away
So this is how it goes / With the loss of our canopy home / That falls with the leaves from the trees / As we pass.
And I wasn’t there in the last / But I was surely there from the first / Here, in my chest where you burst / I keep the crush and the weight of the world.
Anyone who witnessed Samuel Herring’s manic dancing on the David Letterman show should be eagerly anticipating the release of Future Islands‘ new album Singles which is out on 25th March.
