It takes less than 30 seconds into the first song on Future Islands’ fourth album, Singles, to be confronted with the concept of change. Singles marks a few impactful changes in how Future Islands operate. It is their first album for 4AD, their previous albums being released on Thrill Jockey. Though both labels are well respected, 4AD gives the band much more resources to work with. More importantly, it is their first album produced by Chris Coady, who is best known for producing the bulk of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV on the Radio’s discographies, and whose credits also include Beach House’s Teen Dream, Cold Cave’s Cherish The Light Years, and Grizzly Bear’s Yellow House. As great as Thrill Jockey and Chester Endersby Gwazda (the producer of the band’s first three albums) have been for the band, this is a noticeable step up in clout.
While Gwazda seemed content with letting the band stick to its signature emotive and dour brand of synthpop (which, to be fair, worked incredibly well on Future Islands’ last two excellent albums), Coady forces the band out of their downtrodden comfort zone. Singles is filled with cherished memories, beautiful couples, and star-crossed loves. It’s an evolution that allows Future Islands to be more accessible at the cost of their well-established aesthetic. Luckily for the band, the gamble pays off, and what it lacks in cohesiveness it makes up in the sheer amount of catchy songs. This album is named Singles for a reason.
Of course, there is one thing you could never change about Future Islands, and that is the power of Samuel T. Herring’s voice. The man’s voice was built for emotion. Singles is the first album to really test his range, and he mostly comes through with flying colors. On previous albums he was just asked to show heartache, pain, and longing. On Singles he deals with nostalgia, happiness, and yes, a little sadness, but it is much more varied. His lyricism has also largely escaped the changes unscathed. There is no doubt that he’s one of the best modern lyricist at writing melancholy and melodrama, and instead of trying something new in a more upbeat spectrum, he’s simply applied the tenants of his old songs to the new songs. Instead of melodramatic, they are simply dramatic. Simple things such as “Those winter days… those winter nights” on “Spirit” speak volumes without having to expand on the thought, simply because of how they are delivered.
The instrumentation on Singles bears the biggest challenge in the new production direction. The band has largely gotten by on keyboard synth, drums, and bass on its previous work, and that hasn’t changed on Singles. Though we get some more guitar accents on the album than before, specifically on songs that feature it greatly such as “Doves,” it is still the those three basic instruments that create the mood. That mood is the biggest way they convey the added emotional layers. The drum patterns are now even more focused on creating an upbeat, dance-oriented backbeat. Where the keyboard work often times felt depressed, both in timing signature and octave, keyboardist Gerrit Welmers is freed on Singles, allowing him to play with a little more flare and passion. It simply feels softer, warmer, and when needed, just as dour. There is no better example of this than “A Song for Our Grandfathers,” already one of the best songs on the album. Welmer’s work on it is simple but embracing, and gives the song an extra layer of warmth and safety that perfects its nostalgia.
One problem with all these singular songs is that they at best tangentially make up an album. It’s not that they aren’t well written or beautiful in thier own right, they just don’t tell as cohesive a story as past Future Islands albums have. It’s a trade-off that might not equal 1:1, but there is enough new things on the album to forgive it’s lack of an overall narrative. There is new depth throughout the album, and the fact that the band and Coady were able to coax so much new material from their very simple and rigid musical style is impressive.
The album almost predictably ends on a severe note, minus the album finale “A Dream of You and Me,” which is dour yet incredibly upbeat and hopeful for the band. It almost feels like a nod to long time fans that the band didn’t forget what made them so intoxicating in the first place. In said song, Herring repeats the lyrics “I ask myself for peace.” This seems like a simple mantra, but it shows how they’ve grown from a down in the dumps, morose band into something more self assured and confident. This album was an experiment, and the confidence that the band showed both in knowing their style and building on it was able to see them through to the other side. Singles is beautiful, accessible, adventurous, and nothing short of excellent. It’s a work that feels like everything came together perfectly for the band at the exact right time, and it’s a treat to see the band finally hit their potential.
Review by Justin Owlett. Follow him on Twitter @justowle.
