Sunday, April 19, 2015

Best of 2014 #1: Future Islands - Singles (4AD)

North Carolina's Future Islands third album, Singles, is a singularly unique album. It's an odd mix of 80s style synth-pop and new wave, with a crooning, melodramatic and powerful lead singer, Samuel T. Herring. It's a weird album, but it's also oddly catchy. One can't help but be pulled along with Herring's enthusiastic vocal presence. He's earnest and seems very excited to do what he's doing. The music behind it is oddly soothing, sometimes lilting and sometimes jarring. Their odd juxtaposition of the music and Herring's odd vocal approach comes to a head on the song “Fall from Grace”, with Herring building a howling, almost screaming crescendo while the band crafts a Julee Cruise style dirge in the background. It's a compelling album, startlingly and unapologetically unique, like a 2010s version of Pere Ubu.


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