FUTURE ISLANDS - Singles

In a landscape crowded with pop-rock acts, it feels almost embarrassing to greet every new release with enthusiastic, triumphant tones, but to be honest, the praise accompanying the new album from American band Future Islands is simply the natural consequence of the solid artistic status the group has achieved.

Samuel T. Herring's vocal and stage energy is the banner of a band that has brought American synth-pop back to the level of 80s new wave contamination, and listening to their new album "Singles", it's hard not to think of Cars and their clever blend of rhythm and melodramatic romanticism.

There's no trace of vintage in their sound, and the solidity of their formula is compelling: cutting rhythms, bold cascades of post-modern textures, a powerful, raspy voice that holds back a wealth of emotion only to heighten its impact. The songs on "Singles" are a mix of light and shadow, joy and pain, love and loneliness: even the sonic choices churn between opposing impulses, to the point that in "Fall From Grace" Herring's scream brushes up against death-metal territory while also embracing the romantic side of 70s progressive rock (it wouldn't be out of place on a Peter Hammill record).

Future Islands are skilled explorers of synth-pop's dark side: "Light House" stirs up all the nightmares and torments of early Roxy Music, the lyrical sob of "Sun In The Morning" owes as much to a-ha as to Pere Ubu, and the catharsis of "A Song for Our Grandfathers" (where Herring quotes Nietzsche) is steeped in the spirituality of gothic literature as well as a compelling soul sensuality.

On "Singles" rust and dust are the rhythmic force that often overwhelms the melody, carrying that touch of unhinged madness so many pop bands today lack, and so on "Spirit" the band crosses the line into the ridiculous and the grotesque, before brushing against dance perfection on the brooding "Back In The Tall Grass", a deft continuation of the pop tradition that New Order and Associates turned transcendent.

It shouldn't seem strange that we've held off until now from talking about "Seasons (Waiting On You)", the single that's carrying the band toward well-deserved recognition and without doubt one of the finest songs Future Islands have written in their already long career. It's a track I'd dare to describe as blood and tears; an uptempo rhythm over which the bass pulses relentlessly, building a progression that turns visceral, a lyrical force that the perfect fusion of rock and electronics transforms into a future-classic.

Herring's theatrical charisma shines through even more on the less incisive "Doves", which his vocal performance brings back into balance with the album's other gems, and the passion that seeps through the ballad "Like The Moon" is as contagious and enveloping as contemporary pop rarely manages to be.

"Singles" is an ambitious album, yet full of pop songs in vivid colors: Chris Coady's (Beach House) excellent production stages a clinical portrayal of melancholy and joy that at times sounds unnatural, but is actually far more real than an album of intimate folk ballads.

Without giving up their sonic identity, Future Islands are ready to embrace a wider audience with a set of bold, inspired songs, a bittersweet synth-pop forever balanced between clashing moods and feelings, built to expose a vulnerability that doesn't intimidate but excites, in a whirlwind of empathy that makes "Singles" the most human pop album since the debut of the Smiths.

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10/04/2014