Future Islands May Still Sound the Same yet 'People Who Aren't There Anymore' Is Still Their Best in Years

After three years of teasing a new record with singles, Future Islands' latest is worth the wait.

New Mexico artist Beedallo’s ‘Fading Memory of a Face’ serves as the perfect album cover for Future Islands’ new record.

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It’s hard to believe, but it will mark ten years since Future Islands appeared on the Late Show with David Letterman in March. Though they had been around for three albums, this performance promoting Future Island’s new album (their first for the legendary 4AD), Singles, simultaneously got them on far more radars than ever before while also making them a borderline meme. One thing is certain: Sam Herring’s over-the-top theatrical sincerity and “your office co-worker who has had a load of happy hour rounds” dance moves catapulted them to indie darling status.

While I’d say On the Water is still my favorite Future Islands record (read my tenth-anniversary piece from a few years ago here), Singles was deservedly a massive album that I’d imagine is still the one people think of when thinking of Future Islands. It also gave a lusher pallet for their synthpop turned new wave sound, which can be both tremendous and detrimental. Future Islands is one of those bands that continue to avoid reinventing themselves - I rag on bands all the time for it, but what Future Islands does typically works for me. My sunny days in Los Angeles may have made me love the follow-up The Far Field so much (“Through the Roses” is still perfection). It was definitely Covid depression that had me listening to As Long As You Are only once or twice before shelving it in 2020 (thankfully, I went back a few years later and enjoyed it much more: good, but not great).

Now we have People Who Aren’t There Anymore, and between the reliable warm blanket that is Sam Herring’s vocals and Gerrit Welmer’s synth textures and that much of this album released over the past few years as singles, it almost feels like a Future Islands greatest hits record, for songs you haven’t heard before. “Peach” came out all the way back in 2021 and is still my favorite of the bunch, but highlights “King of Sweden” and the ballad “Deep in the Night” followed and had every Future Islands fan asking where the next album was.

Four other singles have dropped in the meantime, all of which I skipped to leave a little surprise for myself when People Who Aren’t There Anymore arrived, which means seven of the twelve songs on this record are singles like it’s the eighties again. The good news is that all these songs are single-worthy, and the more significant news is that the non-singles are fantastic.

As much as I appreciated a self-produced band effort, As Long As You Are sonically lacked a punch because of this, and by bringing in Steve Wright (who has worked with everyone from Mos Def to Slipknot) and the return of Singles’ producer Chris Coady, Future Islands sound as massive as they have in a decade on People Who Aren’t There Anymore. The ballads haven’t always kept my attention on the past few albums, but “Corner of My Eye,” “The Fight,” and especially “The Sickness” are all as captivating as the more significant stadium moments.

People Who Aren’t There Anymore was written throughout Sam Herring’s blossoming long-distance relationship that crumbled throughout the pandemic, and there’s an equal share of hope and despair that continues to show why Future Islands is one of the most human-level pop bands of the past decade-plus. I also have to give a ton of kudos to their rhythm section, which consists of bassist William Cashion and touring drummer turned full-time member Michael Lowry. Cashion’s fuzzy bass stands out on many of these songs with some captivating fretboard walking, and Lowry provides a real pop and drive that gives a deserved facelift to that signature Future Islands sound.

People Who Aren’t There Anymore isn’t going to change your mind if you’ve become bored with the Future Islands trajectory over the past few albums. But if you still appreciate it, this album is a welcome sonic surprise that plays out like a greatest hits comp that is full of brutal, breakup songs that let you know the beauty of Future Islands’ music is their subtlety.

People Who Aren’t Here Anymore is available now on 4AD.