Review Summary: I’ve grown tired trying to change for you.
I don’t want to overstate or overrate the importance of Future Islands’ performance on David Letterman, on the 3rd of March 2014. But it was important. It
felt important. Not least of all because, lyrically and musically, it’s one of those imprecise songs that touch on the human condition, completely owning a deceptively simple melody and chord progression. There’s a lot of songs that it reminds me of, like “Bizarre Love Triangle,” or “Everybody Wants to Rule the World,” or basically any song where the musical emphasis is on a jangly, synthesised instrumental, but it doesn’t matter. Set to Samuel T. Herring’s manic declarations of love, hope for desire, and desire for change, it all falls into place beautifully, in a way that pop songs just don’t do very often. It’s a fu
cking
masterpiece, and everyone should know it. Everyone should watch its performance on
The Late Show, where Herring alternates between jerky, Springsteen-inspired dance moves and death metal gutturals. Not only does the audience seemed stunned, but Letterman seems stunned; Paul Shaffer seems stunned. ‘
Love this band,’ Shaffer says. Herring seems stunned, bemused; dumbfounded. The applause is endless. It’s a fu
cking
masterpiece.
It’s a shame that
Singles, the album “Seasons (Waiting on You)” comes from, is not quite as consistently entertaining or life affirming (and I mean that in the most genuine sense, “Seasons” very well might have ‘saved my life’), nor as impactful as their best work, this year’s
The Far Field. But it’s just as prone to these moments of expressiveness and danceable fever, stacked hooks upon hooks and synths behind synths. It’s beautiful, in the way that most music isn’t. Its title says as much- where any songs could be the single, but just one of them became the single. I wonder why nobody bothered to review it until today, but then I don’t want to wallow in that negativity, bothering to consider why nobody cares. It’s reviewed now, along with my endorsement. Buy it, stream it, download it; I don’t care. Just listen to it. This band could be your life.
s
