Credit: Far Out / Frank Hamilton

Future Islands announce new album ‘People Who Aren’t There Anymore’

Tue 24 October 2023 15:40, UK

American synth-pop giants Future Islands have announced their brand new album, People Who Aren’t There Anymore.

The seventh effort from the band, People Who Aren’t There Anymore, will come out just over three years after the group’s most recent album, As Long as You Are, released during the Covid-19 pandemic.

To preview the upcoming LP, Future Islands have shared their newest single, ‘The Tower’. Darkly emotional and pulsating, the track is similar to the moody single ‘Deep In The Night’, only without the overt crooner elements from singer Samuel T. Herring. Instead, pop hooks are right at the forefront of ‘The Tower’, even as the synth elements feel less vibrant and more fractured.

Judging by the track-listing for People Who Aren’t There Anymore, most of the band’s recent singles will be included on the new LP. That includes that awesome jam ‘King of Sweden’, which kicks off the album proper, and the naturalistic ‘Peach’.

Along with the single release, ‘The Tower’ also comes with a new video directed by Jonathan van Tulleken. Herring and van Tulleken had previously collaborated on the Apple TV+ series The Changeling, and to the surprise of no one, Herring is placed front and centre in the new clip.

“Anyone who’s seen Sam on stage shape shift with his whole body and voice from heart wrenchingly tender to fantastically ferocious knows that he is a truly, magnetic, performer,” van Tulleken writes in a statement. “This was no small reason why he was cast for a role in The Changeling where he plays a complex character who appears to be one thing whilst actually another. It was a role that would be no easy task for even the most seasoned actor but Sam, applying all his stage craft, charisma, smarts and natural empathy, absolutely nailed it producing a riveting performance.”

“I loved working with someone who came to acting via this persona they had built in their music,” he added. “To then get to collaborate on a music video with the band was a delight, especially one which explores that duality of light and dark literally and metaphorically. Finding that same captivating, haunting, performance but this time with the track as script.”

Check out the video for ‘The Tower’, plus the tracklisting for People Who Aren’t There Anymore, down below. People Who Aren’t There Anymore is set for a January 26th release.