Many Great Indie Classics Are Celebrating Ten Year Anniversaries This Month, But Future Islands' On The Water Is The One You Need to Revisit

An album that finds a band comfortably in transition, 'On the Water' is an essential indie record

It isn’t quite on the level of late August and September 1991 when Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, A Tribe Called Quest, Pixies, Guns N’ Roses, and Talk Talk all released classic albums within a span of a few weeks, but October 2011 was a solid entry when it comes to modern indie essentials.

Within a week, M83 released the most celebrated record of the bunch, and Real Estate issued the jangle-pop standard, Days. But the album I still have in the regular rotation is Future Islands’ On the Water, which would lay the foundation for their breakthrough a few years later.

I had just moved to New York the month prior, and M83’s Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming was what I was listening to while getting acquainted with my new home. By the time of its release, M83 was a well-established act for me. My roommate and I had spent many dazed nights stargazing to Before the Dawn Heals Us after seeing the video for “Teen Angst” on MTV2, and my now wife worked at Urban Outfitters when Saturdays = Youth was released, so there was a lot of that album everywhere. But Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming was massive and played in all cool kid clubs. Meanwhile, Real Estate’s Days is still considered their hallmark album, a defining moment for the last time indie rock was going through a guitar band cycle. While it is also a great fall album, it would be the following summer when I found myself giving it the proper beach listen.

What sets Future Islands’ On the Water apart from these other releases is that it is a record of a band that has found its sound but hadn’t quite added the glossy sheen that would send them to the top after a legendary performance on Late Night with David Letterman. Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming is, for now, the peak for M83. Since its release, the French project led by Anthony Gonzalez hasn’t released anything that nearly touches these heights - Junk is junk, and his film score and instrumental work don’t have the same immediacy. Real Estate has been through a lineup change and is still releasing great work (read my review for their latest here), but Days is the band’s zenith.

Future Islands had been a band for five years by the time they released On the Water. After some false starts and four albums under the name Art Lord & the Self-Portrait, a project they formed at ECU as a commentary on pretentiousness in the art world, Future Islands had gained cult status after endless touring. A move from North Carolina to Baltimore treated them well, becoming part of the town’s Wham City scene, including Dan Deacon, Beach House, Wye Oak, and many others.

The group’s third record is On the Water, once again helmed by Dan Deacon’s producer Chester Enderby Gwazda, who had produced their first two records. Their debut Wave Like Home sounds naturally untreated and is a solid introduction to frontman Samuel Herring’s fierce tenor, while In Evening Air produced classics like “Tin Man” and “Walking Through That Door.”

This time though, the band truly embraced their New Wave synth tendencies. A more mature effort, the growls have been perfectly tamed on the title track opener. The tempos have slowed, and the ambiance increased to let the songs breathe, with the best example being bassist William Cashion’s tone throughout as he plucks driving lines in the same fashion as Peter Hook. With “Before the Bridge” and “Balance,” the band remains highly theatrical, as they always will be, but there’s a new tenderness in Herrings’ lyrics and Gerrit Welmers synth work.

“It can be difficult sometimes and relieving at others. It’s all its own sort of therapy depending on the day the week the month. Sometimes we have to face the things we don’t want to, and sometimes we have to completely let go. At some point, the songs are no longer painful and are only a reminder of a past that caused great emotion, and maybe a reminder that we should feel so lucky to have felt so passionately, if even for only a short time.”

- Sam Herring on revisiting lyrics during a recent Reddit AMA

When you hear the slow burn of “The Great Fire” (which features a splendid outing from Jen Wasner of Wye Oak) or the immaculate stacking layers that shimmer on “Where I Found You,” it’s hard to believe this was a difficult period for the band. With pressure from the suits at Thrill Jockey to get the record out, Future Islands has noted the production and mixing process was rushed, causing turmoil within the band. Recorded at a house in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, the album still sounds damn good for a hurried lofi process. For example, listen to “Tybee Island,” which pulls back everything to feature a doubtful Herring floating amongst the waves. As he repeats the refrain “if my head slips beneath the sand,” Welmers’ gorgeous synths hold him up for one of the defining moments of the albums.

Though the album would tickle the Billboard Heatseekers chart, Future Islands would endure in a big way with a new label in 4AD and the confidently titled record, Singles. With a slick, unique sound helmed by producer Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, Grizzly Bear), the band was destined for bigger things when they took to the stage at the Ed Sullivan Theater, giving a full-hearted performance of “Seasons (Waiting on You)” on Letterman. The country was exposed to the sincerity of Future Islands, and there was no turning back as the band now headlines festivals and tours.

Unlike M83 and Real Estate, Future Islands have continued releasing marvelous material, whether Singles or my favorite, 2017’s The Far Field. Last year’s As Long as You Are didn’t necessarily click with me at the rate of their previous work, but with a solid new single in “Peach” and another album on the way, they’re still one of the bands from the era that I look forward to hearing a new record.

If Future Islands has escaped you all of this time, there’s no better place to dive in than with On The Water. Still raw but with sanded edges, it’s an integral part of their glorious discography. Please listen for yourself to see why I still find it on my turntable often after ten years.