Keeping the Field

Keeping the Field

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Keeping the Field
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Future Islands continue to churn out their signature blend of bittersweet urgency and melancholic earnestness on their new LP.

Future Islands/ The Far Field

If there's one band on the face of the earth who truly understand the power of going viral, it's Baltimore-based indie-rock trio Future Islands. Despite having formed in early 2006 and released three studio records in subsequent years, it wasn't until more than a decade later when they became an overnight internet sensation following their performance of 2014's single Seasons (Waiting on You) on The Late Show with David Letterman. Thanks to frontman Samuel Herring's chest-beating zest, straight-faced gravitas and engrossing dance moves, the name Future Islands has since become somewhat a household name, ranking up there among the best indie-rock has to offer.

With new-found mainstream success, the group would spend the following few years touring and headlining major festivals around the world. Their brand of new wave fused with post-punk induces golden-day nostalgia while recalling the sonic aesthetics of Joy Division, New Order and The Cure. Singles, the breakthrough record on which the profoundly meme-worthy Seasons (Waiting on You) appears, is effectively heralded as a modern classic. It's official -- the threesome have fully emerged from obscurity.

Three years later, the guys are back with their fifth studio offering, The Far Field. Helmed by super producer John Congleton, who has worked with everyone from Blondie to Nelly Furtado, the album contains 12 new tracks, one featuring new-wave reigning queen Debbie Harry. Almost immediately, opener Aladdin aims to please fans with all the usual winsome components: propulsive bassline and synth flourishes. The highlight here, though, is the lyrics packed full of satisfying rhymes ("Doubled the top knot/ Flew out the lattice door/ Do what he wouldn't/ Do what he couldn't do/ No lack of 'wouldn't' could be my undoing") and expertly intoned by Herring himself.

Time On Her Side and lead single Ran follow with more unrelenting basslines and undulating synths. On the latter, Herring sings about the challenge of juggling being on tour and keeping romance alive ("On these roads/ Out of love, so it goes/ How it feels when we fall, when we fold/ How we lose control, on these roads/ How it sings as it goes"). The sentiment is promptly echoed on Beauty of the Road ("Left out on the road eight years ago/ And you left too but I never really thought you would really go … The beauty of the road is lost in your eyes/ I drift softly back to when, we were young and in love").

For the rest of the album, Herring continues to serve up more of the galloping melodrama that can only be matched by his impassioned stage persona (Cave, Ancient Water, Black Rose and the outstanding Debbie Harris-guested Shadows). With The Far Field, not only do Future Islands steadfastly (and knowingly) stick to their formula but they do it with the kind of unwavering conviction and gusto that extend far beyond their viral hit.

THE PLAYLIST

Steps/ Scared of The Dark

"What you can't see can't hurt you they say/ But I've been blind too many times before … Give me the bright lights of the dance floor/ To shine inside this broken heart of mine," goes the telling opening verse of Scared of the Dark, the comeback single from one of the most underrated '90s British pop groups, Steps. Lifted from their just-released fifth studio album Tears on the Dancefloor, the song retains much of the group's good ol' sonic aesthetic that's geared towards, well, the dance floor. No trap beats, no guest rappers, no Top 40 gimmicks, just a simple, glorious disco jam.

Woods/ Love is Love

Inspired by the calamity that was the US election, Brooklyn's indie-folk outfit Woods are breaking out of their biennial album cycle with Love is Love, a forthcoming six-track EP which marks the group's first new material since last year's City Sun Eater in the River of Light. The lead single-slash-title track finds frontman Jeremy Earl pontificating about hope and positivity in these dark times. "Say that love is love/ Say that love is love/ How does it feel?/ Will they hear our call?/ Will they hear us fall?" he implores to the billowy percussion and a swell of Afro-jazz horns, glorious and renewing like the sunrise of a new day.

John Mayer/ Still Feel Like Your Man

American singer-songwriter John Mayer has just followed up his EP The Search for Everything: Wave One with its sequel Wave Two. Here, we're treated to lead single Still Feel Like Your Man, a breezy jam packed with smooth, danceable funkiness. "I still keep your shampoo in my shower/ In case you wanna wash your hair," he sings, reminiscing about his pop star ex-lover Katy Perry. "And I know that you probably found yourself some more somewhere/ But I do not really care/ 'Cause as long as it is there."

Kirin J Callinan/ Bravado

After the experimental outlandishness of his 2013 debut studio album Embracism, Kirin J Callinan returns with something a little more accessible in the form of Bravado. Released alongside drugs-themed S.A.D. as part of a double A-side release, the track rides on vintage drum machine and sparse, dream-pop synths a la Beach House. "It's all right 'cause all this time, it was all bravado," the Aussie singer-songwriter croons in his signature raw tone, flirting with just the right amount of melodrama.

Floating Points/ Silurian Blue

Earlier this month UK electronic producer Floating Points (real name Sam Shepherd) announced a short film and soundtrack project titled Reflections -- Mojave Desert. Now he's sharing with us its lead cut from the five-track soundtrack. Awash in krautrock stylings and jazz spontaneity, Silurian Blue is a seven-minute instrumental that slow burns its way through the topography of rhythms and melodies. If you're a fan of Australia's experimental jazz outfit The Necks, this will be right up your alley.

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