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Future Islands

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Baltimore band whose new-wave synths and rubbery bass lines exist mainly as a frame for Samuel T. Herring's croon-to-growl delivery and famously unrestrained physical presence.

Future Islands formed in Greenville, North Carolina, in 2006, growing out of an earlier performance-art college band called Art Lord & the Self-Portraits, before relocating to Baltimore in 2008. Founders Samuel T. Herring, Gerrit Welmers and William Cashion had known each other since middle school and college in North Carolina; drummer Michael Lowry joined later, becoming a full member for the 2020 album As Long as You Are.

The band's sound pairs synthesiser lines and melodic bass with Herring's voice, which shifts between a soft croon and a guttural rasp, often within a single line. The arrangements stay sparse and repetitive by design, built to leave room for that vocal.

After two albums recorded as a trio, In Evening Air (2010) and On the Water (2011), the band built a cult following through relentless touring before breaking through more widely with 2014's Singles, whose lead single "Seasons (Waiting on You)" was named the best song of the year by both Pitchfork and NME.

Onstage, Herring paces, beats his chest and works the front of the stage while the rest of the band stays relatively still. Their 2014 performance of "Seasons (Waiting on You)" on the Late Show with David Letterman became the most-viewed video on the show's YouTube channel and introduced that contrast to a much wider audience.

The band kept releasing steadily afterward, with The Far Field (2017) and As Long as You Are (2020), and their 2024 album People Who Aren't There Anymore traced the breakdown of a long-distance relationship of Herring's across the pandemic lockdowns.

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