Future Islands

We were lucky the weather held, though we had these dramatic, gloomy clouds rolling through. It was a long shoot — I think we wrapped around 2 or 3am. A highlight was climbing to the top of the lighthouse at night with the beam sweeping out over the ocean.

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The Tower shoot, 2023. Filmed at the Oak Island Lighthouse in North Carolina, this was a pretty surreal day on set — and actually a lot of fun, since we got to spend so much time by the beach.

Much of 2023 was spent touring in support of ALAYA, and by the end of the run, three years had passed since we’d released a full-length album. That fall, we mixed People Who Aren’t There Anymore and began making plans for a January 2024 release.

Amongst the many shows we played that year, one that will always remain close to our hearts was our appearance on ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ where we debuted ‘King Of Sweden’. The energy in The Ed Sullivan Theatre was electric. This was one for the books!

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A major highlight from this year was playing our largest headline show ever — to an audience of 10,000 at Alexandra Palace in London.

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In that strange overlap, we slowly began writing and recording what would become our seventh album. One of those songs, “King of Sweden,” was released in February 2022 — at the time, just a stand-alone single.

Because we had to wait a full year before we could tour in support of ALAYA, we found ourselves still fully in album-cycle mode even as years had passed since its release.

In 2022, the ALAYA tour continued through much of the year. In between runs, we’d slip into the studio whenever we could and begin shaping new material.

By summer, we had enough new material to road-test a few songs live. We didn’t play many shows that year, but here’s a clip of an early version of “The Painter,” performed at Pearl Street Nightclub in Northampton, MA — still taking shape before its final studio form.

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In 2019, finally home long enough to unpack our suitcases, we began sifting through the soundcheck jams and shaping new material. From those fragments came the first sparks of “Glada,” “Waking,” and “I Knew You.”

We knew we needed another real break. So we started looking ahead to an off-year in 2019 — time to rest and begin writing what would become the next record.

📸 Chris Stokes

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It was the first time we’d really tried weaving songwriting into tour life, trying to keep the creative spark alive between shows. But by that point, the road had worn us down… again.

After releasing The Far Field in 2017, we spent most of 2018 on the road — tours, festivals, the whole run. Somewhere in there, we started recording soundcheck jams and saving ideas to come back to later.

2017 was a blur!
We released our fifth album The Far Field and spent most of the year on the road. Highlights included our second performance at Coachella and a four-night residency at The Ottobar.

This is “Through the Roses” from our 2017 KEXP session.

We also spent 2016 celebrating 10 years of Future Islands.

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Much of that year we kept writing, and in late summer we went on a short, secret run of shows under fake names to test the new songs on the road.

By the fall, we were at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles recording The Far Field with John Congleton.

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In early January, we found solitude in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and began writing the core of what would become The Far Field. I remember one day — when we wrote “Black Rose” — before the sun set, I ran out and jumped into the freezing ocean.

2016. We began the year with a feature on Jools Holland 2015/2016 Annual Hootenanny, honored to perform alongside incredible guests, including Sir Tom Jones.

March 3, 2014. A day that changed everything for us — our performance of “Seasons” on @letterman.bsky.social An incredible experience, and a true turning point.

Later that month, on March 24, we released our fourth album, Singles, on @4ad.com, and spent the rest of the year on the road.

This photo shows us with the core team behind “Singles” — Chris Coady, David Tolomei & Bella Blasko — on the steps of Dreamland.

As the year closed, we were already looking ahead to what 2014 might bring.

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It was also the first real break we’d taken from the road after nonstop touring since 2008. That August, we recorded ”Singles” at Dreamland Studios in upstate New York with Chris Coady, and by the holidays the album was mixed and mastered.

2013. We celebrated the 10-year anniversary of our first band, Art Lord & the Self-Portraits, with a one-night-only show at Kings in Raleigh. While rehearsing for that night, we began working on new material that would become our fourth album, ”Singles.”

2012. Six years in as Future Islands, three albums released and hundreds of shows played. We started teasing new songs that year — when we first played Light House, it didn’t even have a title yet.

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The first time we ever performed in the UK, at Barden's Boudoir on 4th February 2009.

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2008. Two years into being Future Islands and the release of our debut album Wave Like Home.

We crossed the country with EAR PWR, played Alaska, did a second U.S. run with Adventure, and wrapped the year as part of the Baltimore Round Robin tour that fall.

Whartscape 2007 — pulled from deep in the archives. This was before we made the move up to Baltimore, shortly after finishing Wave Like Home, and we played some of those songs live for the first time that afternoon.
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A very early performance of Heart Grows Old, live in 2006.

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Today we celebrate 20 years of Future Islands!

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When you take my hand I understand where you end and that's where I began.

Some more live memories from last year. Where did you see us in 2025?