Less Synth Leaves Future Islands Sounding Spooky and Spectacular

By Kim Bellware in Arts & Entertainment on Nov 2, 2011 8:40PM

Future Islands used to be the soundtrack for a broken but manic heart, perfect for days when unrequited love made you downright rowdy. On the eve of Halloween Sunday night, the band veered away from their danceable, lovelorn tunes to play material that was chilling and delightfully dark.

As the emotional barometer of Future Islands, vocalist and wordsmith Samuel T. Herring sings as if every feeling in the song was completely fresh (or in some cases, raw). At his most gravely-voiced, he channeled a little Tom Waits; at his most seductive and sinister, think a Labyrinth-era David Bowie. The band played without lights most of the night, but you didn't need to see Herring to connect with the mood his vocals were creating.

When you could see Herring under slightly brighter house lights, he was throwing his whole body into the performance, hurling quick-halting air punches at no one in particular and laser-focusing several menacing stares on the front row of the crowd. Whether he was mugging or really sincere, the audience was buying in.

The set was steady and perfectly Halloween-appropriate in the mood, and early on the band worked in a few of their more grooveable numbers before focusing on the more haunting tracks. Future Islands tend to do whatever it takes to make their songs--however open and atmospheric--translate well in a live setting. Herring tore through the delicacy of "The Great Fire" (whose album version features vocals from Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner) and filled it with a powerful eeriness. The band's smart adaptations of the more sparse songs kept the set from feeling like it was losing pace in between older, dancier numbers.

The crowd dutifully bopped to "Before the Bridge" and "Walking Through That Door," but were just as enthused by "An Apology," with the pretty piano melody roughed up with a crackling synth beat. On a few tracks like "Balance," some punch was missing; Future Islands hasn't been a quartet for some time, but ever now and then we wondered how much more presence the music would have with a live drummer.

The extra percussive kick would have been a nice addition here and there, but that was an easy detail to forget in the grand scheme of the performance. It was hard to think about anything else when you have a frontman like Herring grabbing at his heat and growling through his song mere inches from your face.