Future Islands

Baltimore-via-Greenville group Future Islands ostensibly make synth-pop, but it's darker and more damaged than that sounds, constantly stretching out into interesting, unprovoked places. Vocalist Sam Herring cries and screams about dashed hopes and shattered dreams, whole bassist William Cashion finds a place for beautiful melody between the grimy grooves. J. Gerritt Welmers' synthesizer work delicately balances the atmospherics of ambient electronica with the visceral thump of dance music. Last year's In Evening Air, their first for Chicago's Thrill Jockey (a label that's been wonderfully kind to down-to-earth, experimental Baltimore bands the past few years), is a masterful balance of disparate sounds and one-note emotions. It's arguably the first essential release from probably the best live band freaking out in clubs across the country right now.

In Evening Air is boldly the opposite of Future Islands' powerful, fun live shows. It focuses on a break-up and leans towards the considered atmospherics that take a backseat at their Pentecostal performances. There's still room for high-energy (see: the last minute of "Long Flight" and "Vireo's Eye"), but it's mostly just an awesome bummer of an album. Recent performances featuring the songs for an upcoming album bend back towards the big, simple beats of their early work (like 2006's Little Advances, back when they were a wily post-punk four-piece). They do so with that newly wrought sense of sophistication. No, the new stuff isn't going to hit in Ibiza or anything, but it's unabashedly four-on-the-floor and micro-house-like. Did we mention that they're also an absolutely incredible live band? —Brandon Soderberg