Future Islands :: "Balance"

There is a running joke in my circle of friends that prominently involves caps lock and broadly superlative sentences. It should be noted that this has most recently found its raison d'etre in emails claiming Future Islands to be, "THE BEST BAND IN THE WORLD EVER." Unsophisticated, I realize, and only mildly sarcastic, but nonetheless reflective of the unknowable good thing that Future Islands cooked up on a debut record, In Evening Air, and the same thing that the band looks to break bigger (see: moving from Brooklyn art space shows to selling out the Bowery on December 1st) on coming record, On The Water out October 11. On latest promotional single, "Balance", the band seems to invoke those awesome one word New Order songs that were at once nouns and descriptions, "Ceremony", "Temptation", "Confusion", "Procession", in this case, "Balance", both a thing and something that your superego recommends. The pop is glittering, replete with lively, upfront bass and twinkling synths, all rolled in a mantra, "It just takes time." Time, we assume, to hack into the email of unknown strangers to find yourself the object of a somewhat serious, half-funny joke. It is, at least, pretty and powerful.

Listen :: Future Islands - "Balance"