At the end of this month, Future Islands will release their highly anticipated new album, People Who Aren’t There Anymore (Jan, 26, 2024 / 4AD). And today, they’ve shared another new song, “Say Goodbye,” an examination of a long distance relationship unravelling, with Samuel T. Herring crooning. “When I don’t wanna say goodnight / And every day without you Feels one closer to goodbye / I just need to make this world seem right / You just sleep tight, til I’m on your side.”
“Say Goodbye” follows previously released songs “The Fight,” “Deep in the Night”, “King of Sweden” and “Peach”. More recently, the band shared “TheTower,” alongside a video directed by Jonathan van Tulleken (Top Boy,Shogun). This marks the second project Van Tulleken and Herring have worked on together following Apple TV’s The Changeling, whose first season aired this fall.
From the start, Future Islands have been singular and instantly identifiable, with Herring’s life-worn croons and cries backlit by Gerrit Welmers’ melodies and charged by the rhythms of William Cashion and Michael Lowry. That premise hasn’t changed on People Who Aren’t There Anymore, but never before has the band sounded so empathetic and Herring so integrated, with what he is singing and how they sound blended like a dioramic mosaic.
People Who Aren’t There Anymore, the band’s seventh album, heralds a new chapter for Future Islands who, despite having formed nearly two decades ago, continue to challenge themselves and each other. Where they’ve pursued ever-higher energy anthems in the past, they’ve turned inward this time and unlocked a new level of ferocity. The album delivers some of their most inspiring and heartbreaking tracks by doing the opposite: taking their time, and making each breath, syllable and cymbal crash count. The result is a powerful, defining statement from a group of musicians that have made the best album of their career.
People Who Aren’t There Anymore was co-produced by Future Islands and Steve Wright. It was mixed by Wright and Chris Coady, who hasn’t worked with the band since 2014’s Singles. It will be available digitally, on CD and cassette and on standard back vinyl, transparent vinyl (indie retail only) and yellow & black ‘yolk’ vinyl with alternative artwork (4AD/D2C exclusive). For pre-order information, head HERE.
Future Islands is Samuel T. Herring (vocals, lyrics), William Cashion (bass, guitars), Gerrit Welmers (keyboards, programming) and Michael Lowry (drums).
