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Future Islands

1 festival played

Baltimore band whose new-wave synths and rubbery bass lines exist mainly as a frame for Samuel T. Herring's croon-to-growl delivery and famously unrestrained physical presence.

Future Islands formed in 2006 and are based in Baltimore, having come together among a group of art students in North Carolina. The band pairs synthesiser lines and melodic, prominent bass with the voice of Samuel T. Herring, who moves between a soft croon and a guttural rasp, sometimes within a single line. The arrangements are sparse and repetitive by design, leaving space for the vocal.

Their reputation rests heavily on live performance, where Herring paces, beats his chest and works the front of the stage while the rest of the band stays relatively still. A televised performance in 2014 brought that contrast to a much wider audience, and the group has toured steadily since.

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