I remember seeing the band Future Islands on a late night show, except that I rarely watch network television. It must have been their “Seasons (Waiting On You)” from Letterman’s Late Show in 2014 before Colbert took over. I thought, “Joe Cocker lives.” And I swear I recall telling my wife Andrea about lead singer Sam Herring: “He looks like he’s about to pee his pants.” That was then.
Tonight, YouTube, with its funky algorithm, shot me “Thrill,” from the band’s forthcoming album. The promo is pandemo-solo, the sound synthy, the topic topical, but it might not be what you think. But it may be.
Watch it first, then see what you think. Lyrics are in the YoutTube description.
From the band’s Facebook:
“Thrill” is a song about battling addiction in Greenville, North Carolina, where Future Islands began. It’s about the isolation and fear we feel in our homes — in our society. It’s about sadness rising, and spilling over, our anger — spilling over, like the great Tar River. “Thrill” is about the things we don’t talk about, beauty destroyed and left to crawl home. Beauty, like the river, that just keeps chugging along. It’s about the power of water and ‘what is it?’ when it’s above our heads, rising within and without. It’s about begging for help and realizing that sometimes you just have to go at it, alone. And keep rising.
Driving to the Midwest and back over the last three days I heard a lot on the radio about rural addiction, wondered why the weather forecast from Monday—evil rain to sit over our route on Wednesday and Thursday—vanished, wondered why when we drove through Des Moines the derecho devastation was not evident. “I seen it on the news,” but in the end we didn’t have to talk about it because we didn’t see it.