Future Islands – On The Water (Thrill Jockey)
The latest from this Baltimore trio has a dark, stately feel that does an excellent job of evoking nights spent on the sea, and long lonely periods away from loved ones. They do this through instrumentation that is equally reminiscent of turn-of-the-80s David Bowie and late-80s Leonard Cohen.
Future Islands – On The Water (Thrill Jockey)
The latest from this Baltimore trio has a dark, stately feel that does an excellent job of evoking nights spent on the sea, and long lonely periods away from loved ones. They do this through instrumentation that is equally reminiscent of turn-of-the-80s David Bowie and late-80s Leonard Cohen. I could make quite a few other references here–Kate Bush, Bryan Ferry, prime-era Depeche Mode–but what they all have in common is an evocation, through the use of synthesized instrumentation, of much darker moods than are typically associated with such sounds. No bright, sunny synthpop can be found here.
Instead, this is an album full of thick, melancholy gloom, one that may seem impenetrable at first but slowly reveals its depths over the course of multiple listens. The cold, glittering guitar lines that appear on songs like “Give Us The Wind” could have been lifted from early records by The Cure, but they sound completely different in the atmosphere that’s created here. On The Water evokes a mood of magnificent, grandiose despair; it creates towering cathedrals of sound that ultimately come to seem like a tombstone for the mournful characters that gasp out their innermost fears within each song’s lyrics. Samuel T. Herring’s voice is overwrought beyond any tasteful level, but his scenery-chewing baritone is appropriate here–subtlety would seem completely unequal to the challenge presented by these swelling synth soundscapes.
Occasionally, as on the latter half of “Close To None,” the band stir themselves to up the energy level a bit, but even these moments have a dark, despondent tone, and are far outnumbered by the meticulously constructed waves of gloom that wash over most of these songs (which are often represented quite literally by the sound of crashing waves in the background). Oddly enough in light of that description, On The Water is an uplifting listening experience, as the relatively uptempo moments towards the end of the album give a sense that things are improving, while the earlier, more downbeat moments are still impressive musical achievements that can be enjoyed separately from their prevailing mood. That said, I would have to recommend that listeners only approach this album at a time of relative emotional strength. For the already depressed, the mood here seems like it would be a bit more than they could handle.
—
Future Islands will perform at The Camel, located at 1621 W. Broad St., on Monday, January 23 at 8 PM, along with Canary Oh Canary and Ed Schrader’s Music Beat. Admission is $10; advance tickets can be purchased here.
