You Make Me Feel Like Dancing

If you've had your ear to the ground or your eyes on the right blog, you might be aware that Future Islands, a three-piece from Baltimore, have been sharing their earnest, post-punk sounds for many years. Samuel T Herring is the band's enigmatic frontman and he speaks from the band's new label 4AD's London offices. For him, it doesn't matter all that much whether Future Islands have recently caught your attention or you were with the band from the start.

“I think the people that would hold it against you for having new fans aren't necessarily the kind of fans that we'd hope for,” he laughs. “When people love something and it feels really dear to them it can be hard for them to share it. But at the same time I think the people who have been there for us over the years love it because they're not only our fans, they're our supporters and in a big way a lot of them are our family.”

One major reason for Future Islands' sudden ascendency is the band's transition to 4AD. “[4AD] have already allowed us to reach people that had no idea about us, or wouldn't have known about us otherwise,” the frontman allows. “Also, just being a part of the 4AD history is big for us. We feel like we've earned our chance to be a part of a great label and to be recognised by a great label is inspiring in its own right. Our goal isn't to make people love what we do, our goal is to just get into people's ears for a second. To be on a label like 4AD gives us that chance: to reach people and let them decide for themselves if this is what they want.”

Another massive, and perfectly timed, reason for Future Islands being thrust into the spotlight is their Late Show With David Letterman performance in early March, a week or so out from SXSW. Herring's passionate dancing and vocal delivery, paired with the band's tight performance of Seasons (Waiting On You) – the opening cut from their fourth album, Singles – impressed not only Letterman himself but over one-and-a-half million people who have viewed it on YouTube since. So what does Letterman smell like? “Oh, man! [laughs] Y'know, I've never been asked that one before. The first thought that came into my mind was aftershave, but I don't actually remember. I might have had a stuffed-up nose that day. Let's just say aftershave. Let's say Old Spice aftershave. He's a classy guy. I'm just gonna guess.”

While his nose is once again stuffed-up on this grey London day, one thing that is clear is Herring's excitement about playing in front of Australian audiences. After a brief tour in 2012, Future Islands are front and centre on the Splendour In The Grass bill. “We heard that the only way to really crack Australia is to get onto the festival circuit and to play on a large scale,” Herring explains. “As Americans, it's a long journey to get to you guys, so we're just excited to be able to play. We had so much fun the first time we came over and we were bummed that we only played three shows. It'll be really fun coming back and hopefully it will open more opportunities for us to get back there again later in the year or early next year.”

Herring hopes to hang out with some of the locals this time around. “I did get hit up by Raceless from [Melbourne-based hip-hop collective] Curse Ov Dialect,” he gushes with the excitement of a true fanboy. “I'm really psyched because I shouted those guys out in an interview I did recently and he hit me up through Facebook. He basically said, 'You should come and hang out at the house and eat some barbecue with us.' So I might get to hang out with Curse Ov Dialect! I'm super excited about that because I've been a fan of theirs for a long time.”

If it seems surprising that these Australian hip-hop pioneers are on Herring's radar, it shouldn't. “I have a hip hop project myself under the pseudonym Hemlock Ernst,” Herring reveals.