Future Islands announces a new chapter in its illustrious two-decade journey with the release of “The Tower.” The single comes with the revelation that the band will return next year with their seventh album, People Who Aren’t There Anymore, out on January 26th. Jonathan van Tulleken, who directed four episodes of the new series “The Changeling” starring frontman Samuel T. Herring in a phenomenal breakout role, also directed the accompanying music video.
The new song finds the quartet — still comprised of Herring (vocals/lyrics), William Cashion (bass/guitars), Gerrit Welmers (keyboards/programming), and Michael Lowry (drums) — propelled by their characteristically galvanizing spirit. Across their discography, one can find a surplus of heartening anthems meant to buoy the downtrodden.
But Future Islands‘ latest offering finds them stripping away the vibrant synth-pop that’s accentuated their last few albums in favor of a more intentional approach to their surging melodics. “The Tower” manifests that change as a paced kineticism of pulsating drums and faintly glowing keys. As the rush of percussion transforms into an energizing gallop, they lend Herring’s ardently possessed vocals and densely stirring lyricism a thrust of zealous compassion.
“I, I, I am waiting on the other side, sigh / Looked out into everything, and I lie,” he wails, his words gushing with pressing sincerity. “Tell myself, ‘It’s nothing,’ when it’s quite right / Everything grows stronger in the light.” As with any Future Islands song, it’s hard to decide what enchants you first, the rallying vitality of its melody or its spellbinding lyrics.
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Regarding the latter, Tulleken’s music video goes a long way to bring the fantastical scenery of “The Tower” to life. It opens on a black-and-white shot of a message in a bottle floating ashore as it’s carried in by the foamy surf. Soon, it cuts to the band — offering up a montage of scenes of them wandering the picturesque and forlorn shore — while the eponymous and elusively enigmatic tower rises in the distance.
Words: Steven Ward
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People Who Aren’t There Anymore, the new album from Future Islands, is out on January 26.
Visit Future Islands on their website and Instagram to stay updated on new releases and tour announcements.
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