Live Review
Future Islands – CAMP Basement, London
Ever seen Meatloaf’s 1977 perform ‘Paradise By the Dashboard Light’ on the Old Grey Whistle Test? Look it up if you haven’t. You need it in your life, please ensure you watch the full ten minutes, don’t turn it off too soon wondering what the fuss is about, it doesn’t start getting interesting until minute three. Watching Meatloaf’s performance in this will give you a fair indication of what Future Islands were aiming for on Wednesday night at the CAMP.
OK, so there was no Karla DeVito or extended snogging scenes but the essence of rock opera was conveyed in the rasping of lead singer Sam Herring’s vocal. Prolonged touring had obviously taken its toll, reducing his dulcet husky tones to little more than an emotive croak.
Backed by trusty, synth, keyboard, bass guitar, & drum machine the soothing soporific effect of the electro backing contrasted well with the ‘Jack Black having an asthma attack’ vocal on stage.
Starting with newer songs, they shot themselves in the foot slightly by playing their best known song ‘Tin Man’ early on in the set, and even the most enthusiastic looking fans seemed to tire and leave before the end of the encore. Oh those fickle hipsters….
Despite the effort being put into the performance of the newer songs it was the singles that shone out: Walking Through That Door & In the Fall in particular.
The sound in the basement venue was by no means perfect and Sam Herring himself admitted that they had been unable to sound check so levels had to be tweaked as they went along. The venue itself was a mishmash, inspiring memories of comprehensive school drama rooms & crumbling offices from the eighties. Surprisingly enough this set up is not the most conducive environment to produce the best quality sound but thanks to the Old St location this has become quite the hipster hotspot.
Future Islands stand out amongst the proliferation of electronic indie bands because they do sound different, their unique selling feature is Sam Herring’s voice which you either love or loathe. Their songs are infectious because they employ the same riff structure of pop yet the electronic element give them the very ‘now’ sound of eighties Post Wave. They may not get to the top of the charts on their looks but they certainly have the stamina of tin men to go all the way.