STACK #192 Oct 2020

MUSIC FEATURE

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big folder of papers with all my info, and I made a photobook of our relationship. I kept trying to show this

Future Islands, L-R: Michael Lowry, Samuel Herring, Gerrit Welmers, William Cashion Below: Herring in the emotional one-shot clip for single, Thrill

photobook to people because I spent so much time on it – ‘Look! Look at it!’” he mimics himself with a hearty laugh. There’s another very good reason for smiles on the faces of Herring and his Future Islands bandmates William Cashion, Michael Lowry, and Gerrit Welmers: the arrival of their majestic new album As Long As You Are this month. Herring says that unlike previous records, this time the band decided they were “going to give [themselves] as much time as possible to try to allow for new sounds to come through.” Sometimes, however, you gotta back to the old to give life to the new. "I used to have this brick of a tape recorder that I’d bring to practices in 2010, 11, 12, 13 – before I had a decent computer – and I brought it in the studio this time, to play around with these sounds,” Herring says. He describes an experiment the group conducted via control room, live room, and vocal booth, wherein the tape recorder’s inclusion lent a sense of a “lost melody” to the album’s closing track Hit The Coast . “When you’re crunched for time, you don’t get a chance to think about things like that – to go deeper into

INTERVIEW

SAMUEL HERRING FUTURE ISLANDS Samuel T. Herring gives us the low-down on the beautiful new album from his post-wave wizards of emotional potions, Future Islands. Words Zoë Radas

those concepts,” he says. "We allowed ourselves the time to go past and then pull back to find those things. “That’s the way we used to make records – a record that moves, and flows, and is linked with what we call ‘ghosts and dust’ – we always follow the little bits of things in the song..." ZKR

As Long As You Are by Future Islands is out Oct 9 via 4AD/ Remote Control.

A s Sam Herring grins down the zoom-line – a serene Swedish morning glowing through the window behind him – he says he’s relieved to finally be back in the land of ABBA and meatballs. “I’m very happy to be where I’m supposed to be,” he says, explaining

that a recent revision of Sweden’s COVID- related laws meant the American musician would be allowed into the country – once he'd proven his relationship with Swedish actress Julia Ragnarsson was long-term. “I’ve already applied for residency in Sweden, so I have a

Continue to read the full interview online at stack.com.au

I f you’re a fan of Lana Del Rey, you can already guess what the purists have said about the musician's poetry anthology Violet Bent Backwards Over The Grass – released as an audiobook two months ago, and now available in print, on CD and on vinyl. You can guess, but you don’t care, because these are the very things you adore about Lana: the drowsy sexuality, the exquisite heartbreak, the languid Americana drama.There's all that and more, as Violet does offer real insight LANA GOES LITERARY

into the heart's desires and anxities of Elizabeth Grant, all accompanied by soft-pedalled piano and occasional sax from NFR! producer (and musical prince) Jack Anatoff. Lana once said that words are the last real form of magic; this album is most definitely her spellbook. ZKR

Violet Bent Backwards Over The Grass by Lana Del Rey is out now via Universal.

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