In Evening Air

Future Islands (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 4, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Thrill Jockey
• ASIN: B003D0ZNDI
• In-Print Editions: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #113,035 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Review

Future Islands' sound is as texturally interesting as it is rhythmically accessible - music designed for both heads and feet. - NPR --NPR Song of the Day

Replacing the dance-pop movement with rich characterization and storytelling, they've found themselves at a pleasant distance from most formal genre comparisons. Their music is playful but steeped in subtle detail, with both emotional heft and a pungent sense of theatricality... Drawing from a few different traditions while making them their own, Future Islands prove here to be a well-versed group of wild, woolly storytellers. - Pitchfork (7.6) --Pitchfork

There is an uncommon thrill in hearing a band discover and deliver a fresh approach, and this is what Future Islands achieves on the nearly perfect In Evening Air. - PopMatters (8/10) --PopMatters

Product Description

In Evening Air is the debut full length from Future Islands on Thrill Jockey. This follows up the limited 12'' EP In The Fall (released on April 6th). In Evening Air marks the first full-length release from Future Islands since moving to Baltimore, and also their first full-length release as a focused three piece. However, there's no lack of spirit in this paring down. More so, there's a greater intensity and eye to detail than we have yet witnessed from the group. These changes are felt and heard. In Evening Air takes us and swirls us around those feelings of growing outside of one's city and one's self. It moves through gripping loss and the search for peace from a heavy head, with an ease and understanding where there was none.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Future is the Time to Think About the Past, January 25, 2011

By 

John Wraith "Studio Gangsta" (Rural Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In Evening Air (Audio CD)

I am a bit stunned that, in the currently saturated music media, this record didn't get more attention. I'm not normally a great fan of the Thrill Jockey label because many of its flagship bands' concentration on texture comes at the expense of songcraft, to the point that the songs become a bit bland and samey (think The Sea and Cake). But this stuff is totally different. I'd file this band's sound between Crystal Castles and Wild Nothing; it's got a chaos to it, a weird noise that reminds me of the former group but a focus on texture and ambiance that reminds me of the latter. So it's electro, and it probably sounds really great on drugs, but I'm not sure it's going to light up the dance floors as much as Crystal Castles might.

What really makes this LP even more original, though, is the vocals. They remind me of those of fellow Baltimorons Wilderness, a sort of throaty, unhinged scraping from the lead singer. I would also compare the vocals to those of The Twilight Sad, even if the accent isn't Scottish but some strange lampooning of a European accent. I mean, I would guess that the frothing-at-the-mouth singing style on "Tin Man" is a mean-spirited parody of something, but I don't know what. Who knows what he's talking about, even though you can make out the lyrics pretty clearly. I'm into it, though. I'm into it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great movement, November 15, 2010

By 

J. Farhat "Lives at 9:30 Club" (D.C., USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: In Evening Air (Audio CD)

This album seems hard on the ears at first: the voice is something like a black womanized version of frank black + tom waits (which honestly sounds better with every listen.) You'll probably get hooked on the initial guitar rhythm of "vireo's eye" which is really quite a good song (though to be honest there may be better songs on the album, such as "long flight" for instance.) But really, please get this album (any way you can) because it's worth it. The sound work is really well done, instrumentation has great diversity of what some would call 'indi-electro-pop' but to me it just sounds like originality. The album does have a strange cohesion, mostly in just how groovin these tunes can be. Tempo changes will make some skip to the tracks they prefer, but by the time I listened to this album on loop for about a couple hours, I ended up giving a positive rating for 7 out of the albums' 9 tracks, not because all are vibrantly-poppy, but because they are 7 really listenable and enjoyable songs. I found the simplicity of some of the lyrics to be my favorite parts, as well as the slightly off-kilter gramatical phrasing of words (reminiscent a little of weezer blue album style of songwriting)
Please, please get this album. Definitely a fine album for the decade.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hooked!, October 4, 2011

By 

Dagny - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: In Evening Air (MP3 Download)

I recently heard "Vireo's Eye" and just had to have it! Because it's so good I didn't mind buying the whole album to get it. What I came away with is a diverse collection of pieces - all different moods and pulses. I love all but one of them. And I still LIKE that one! What a find! I can't get "Tin Man" out of my head! ... and I don't want to... ! These tunes are haunting and moving. I highly recommend it.