she says nothing seems the same / and i can't change a thing

future islands. holy crap. i love them so much. first, listen/watch:

long flight-- let the excellent cokemachine glow review do the talking:

The stand-out “Long Flight,” on the other hand, is a slow burn. It doesn’t bother with a chorus so much as a couple of fragmented refrains (“You can’t look me in my eyes anymore”; “Just ‘cause you needed a hand”) repeated and syntactically rearranged throughout the rest of the song like a frenzied villanelle. The repetition of the lyrics, combined with an ever-intensifying synth line, creates an almost unbearable tension—and, sure enough, Herring finally breaks half a minute before the song ends, thrashing and growling for only a few seconds and then retreating into a defeated whisper. Something about his outburst feels lonely and futile, like gnashing your teeth at a mirror. Because even though all the songs on the record are sung to a certain you, there’s an unshakable sense that the person Herring’s addressing isn’t listening.

swept inside-- new favorite. compared to the extremes he takes his voice to in some of these songs (the next one in particular), the calm delivery of this song is grounding. part of me wants everyone to listen to this one first, since it's so obviously good and because it's not as immediately challenging as the other two, but just trust me here.



an apology-- one of the best songs i've heard in so long. the video is fantastic-- his energy, at first, seems insane, until the ... tenderness ... of his delivery comes through. i think tenderness is the right word. andy first got me into this band by saying, quote,

can't explain why i love it so much
singer dude has a sort of tom waits/meatloaf/ shakespeare live theatre sort of thing going on
just give them a chance
it's like posessed meatloaf
i'm serious

note that THIS IS THE WRONG WAY TO APPROACH THIS BAND. i saved this one for last so you wouldn't go, ok, music that al;ec likes plus insane meatloaf singer, great, i think i will take a huge pass on that thank you. but you know what? you'd be wrong, and i want you to have the opportunity to be right, so, please. enjoy.



is it an epic breakup album? yeah, no doubt about that, but it has beautiful keyboards, some really serious peter hook bass, an amazing strange singer, and songs that i guarantee will be in your head for days. thank god for good new music.