• Irish Tour: Future Islands and Sacred Paws

    July 10, 2017 - By 

    Future Islands with support from Sacred Paws live in Dublin, Galway and Cork. Words by Kelly Doherty and Paula Murphy, photos by Sean McCormack and Alan Maguire. Cork Opera House It’s been a long time since Future Islands first played to an Irish crowd of 14 people and it wouldn’t be a far jump to say that in the intervening years they’ve become somewhat indie darlings on this island and the sold out Cork crowd is more than happy to spend Independence Day with their favourite American exports. Before they take the stage, we’re treated to a blinder of a…

  • Future Islands – The Far Field

    April 10, 2017 - By 

    By 2014, the days of a hard-working band catching their break on late night TV were supposed to be over, at least until Future Islands proved everyone wrong. Clever synth-pop number ‘Seasons (Waiting on You)’ was elevated so much by frontman Samuel T Herring’s performance on David Letterman that they were catapulted onto another level. His hip swaying, chest beating, growling run through the song was almost comically sincere, downright bizarre, and completely captivating. It soon went viral, inspiring GIFs and blog posts aplenty. It even collected prestigious ‘Song of the Year’ gongs from Pitchfork, NME, Spin and others, while…

  • New Additions to Iveagh Gardens Line-Up

    January 23, 2017 - By 

    Two new dates have been added to this year’s series of shows at Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens. With Fleet Foxes, Passenger and Damien Dempsey already set to play dates, it’s been announced that Baltimore’s Future Islands and Scottish indie rock heroes Belle and Sebastian (pictured) will play the annual concert series on Thursday, July 6 and Thursday, July 20 respectively. Tickets for Future Islands go on sale on January 27, whilst tickets for Belle and Sebastian go on sale on January 30. Both are priced €45.

  • Gigs of the Week: Go Wolf, Future Islands, Sunglasses After Dark

    October 28, 2014 - By 

    Hallowe’en. There, we said it. Now that we’ve clarified our position on the matter, we’ll move straight to business: here’s our Gigs of the Week, for this particular moment week in time, never to been heard of or seen again, and yet, rather magically, still something yet to be achieved, experienced and appreciated. Time, ladies and gentlemen – think about that for a second. No Tomorrow: Go Wolf, Allez Bartoli, Ed Zealous DJs @ Voodoo, Belfast – Saturday, November 1, 9pm, £5 If we didn’t feature our monthly Belfast gig/club night in the fourth and final Gigs of the Week…

  • Friday Mixtape: Owen Strathern (Oh Volcano)

    August 1, 2014 - By 

    In the first of a new weekly “thing” here at the Thin Air (sometimes “thing” sums it up perfectly, you know?), Oh Volcano’s Owen Strathern delivers the inaugural Friday Mixtape, featuring some of his all-time favourite tracks – everyone from Talking Heads to The Magnetic Fields. Stream the playlist and read Owen’s thoughts on each track below. Future Islands – Seasons (Waiting On You): “I saw this track on Letterman and pre-ordered their album right away. The guy is mesmerising and this song is incredible.” Caged Animals – Teflon Heart: “I heard this track a few years ago and just heard an instrumental of…

  • Future Islands Announce Dublin Show

    April 9, 2014 - By 

    Hotly tipped American electro-poppers Future Islands will be paying Dublin a visit this November with a date confirmed at Vicar Street. Tickets for the show, taking place on November 2 are priced at €20, and go on sale today,Thursday, April 10 at 9am. This show follows the release of the critically-acclaimed Singles album, which came out earlier this year.

  • Choice Cuts: The Best Tracks of… March

    April 1, 2014 - By 

    This month has been remarkable in terms of the quantity of excellent music releases on all fronts, and summarizing it into a playlist of 10 tracks has proven a tad difficult. As such, there are many notable absentees from this list, but at the same time I can assure you the reader that these ten new releases are not just good, or even great, but downright essential listens if one is to keep ahead of the crowd. I wouldn’t lie about things of such importance. As per usual, the first list of songs is in no particular order, with the…

  • Future Islands – Singles

    March 25, 2014 - By 

    The hardest working band in electronic pop have moved to 4AD for their fourth album of delicately skewed and melodically-crushing heartbreak. Superficially, Singles carries on the Baltimore trio’s business of creating crafted, if slightly unsettling vignettes of loves lost, unrequited or simply illusory. The likes of ‘Tinman’ (from breakthrough second album In Evening Air) frantically pulsed with a combination of galloping bass and simmering synth washes and –most importantly – the astonishing voice of one Sam Herring. Herring’s half strangled, affected and utterly effecting throaty laments leant those songs a kind of raw, unnerving authenticity that made you believe he…