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CD
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UTR 023CD
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Originally released in 2009, re-released following a stunning performance on Letterman, and signing to 4AD. Future Islands are a post-wave dance band from North Carolina -- now residing in the fertile "music capital of awesome" Baltimore. Future Islands play a terse yet passionate music wrought from a stripped-back palette. Gerrit Welmers' cartwheeling synthesizer melodies tumble across the austere wilderness of William Cashion's post-punk bass pulse, driven ever forward by Eric Murillo's ecstatic feel for rhythm. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the band's sound, however, takes shape in the form of Sam Herring's distinctive guttural vocal, delivered as Glen Danzig if he ever found himself in a Shakespearean tragedy. At times on its knees at others belted out like it's the end of the world, Herring's vocal lends a raw emotional warmth to the group's resolute synth-punk bounce. Wave Like Home was created in the summer of 2007, with the help of producer Chester Endersby Gwazda and successfully denotes the uplifting energy of the band's live shows while still staying true to their 4-track hearts. The album is a breathless testament to romance and grasping chances, forever enthralled to the optimism of trying again. It's a sincere and sometimes painfully honest record about chasing broken dreams and finding courage in a forsaken heart. An album infatuated with timescales like always and forever. From the broken elegy of woozy opener "Pangea" through the euphoric fun trips of "Old Friend" and the upbeat "Seize a Shark," the album never drifts far from reflection amongst its highest highs. For every throbbing track recalling breakneck pursuits, there's a soulful reminder of the quieter side of a melodramatic heart. "Beach Foam" is glorious, swelling synth-work perfectly capturing the crashing waves that incite such hungry philosophy in the song. For all the hope and regret felt across the album it is rather apt that final track "Little Dreamer" catches up with Future Islands at their most starry-eyed. Wave Like Home is a worthy debut album for Future Islands -- perfectly capturing their bittersweet nature.
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