Exclusive Song Premiere: ‘Balance,’ Future Islands
By
August 18, 2011
FUTURE ISLANDS. PHOTO COURTESY OF MIKE VORASS
With their new single, “Balance,” Future Islands find their center. The song begins and ends with the sound of the ocean, and its overall upbeat electro-pop feel is tempered throughout by a meditative effect—which complements the new album’s title, On the Water.
The release of “Balance,” the second single from On the Water, probably won’t surprise Future Islands fans: the band’s third album plays with the same synth beats and romantic idealism they’ve dealt in before, with a welcome new expansiveness to boot. Vocalist Samuel T. Herring, bassist William Cashion, and keyboardist J. Gerrit Welmers took a retreat in March of this year to the waterfront Andrew S. Sanders House in Elizabeth City, NC, where they lived along with writing and recording On the Water. It was a hell of an incubator: On the Water is a more mature offering from the trio, with strains of cello, violin, marimba, and field recordings.
“Balance” emits nostalgia for The Cure and New Order, stirring emotional memory while maintaining throbbing beats. It’s a taste of what’s to come on the new record, which features guest performers Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak and Denny Bowen of Double Dagger. Though the album’s not out until October, we think the band picked the perfect time to release “Balance”: both sweetly nostalgic and fully danceable, it’s just right for a late-August night.
FUTURE ISLANDS WILL RELEASE ON THE WATER ON OCTOBER 11.
