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9.0
63777
9.0 |
musicOMH
Experimental, yet hugely accessible
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9.0
63832
9.0 |
The Line Of Best Fit
This is a feel-good bubble Future Islands have created, and they cultivate a dangerous apathy in which nowt else matters outside it. Frankly though, when life’s this good with Singles on, why would you burst it?
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9.0
63747
9.0 |
The 405
The album they hope will drive the leap from merely surviving to a more comfortable level of success, financial and otherwise
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9.0
64062
9.0 |
All Music
The vocals, the songs, the music, and the production work together to make Singles a one-of-a-kind experience that's nearly perfect
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9.0
65089
9.0 |
FasterLouder
Singles is a taut album with no real lulls in energy or quality. As such, many have predicted that Singles will be a breakout album for Future Islands
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8.4
63985
8.4 |
Earbuddy
Singles is as enjoyable as it is thoughtful. This is music for the frustrated romantic in all of us
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8.3
63974
8.3 |
Pretty Much Amazing
Singles is sometimes stark, and sometimes surprising – but its key constant is that it’s rarely short of spellbinding
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8.0
64036
8.0 |
Q
A brilliant, bewitching album. Print edition only
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8.0
64014
8.0 |
Spin
We've heard a billion permutations of the tuneful minimalism of Singles' opener "Seasons (Waiting on You)," but it takes a real showman to free such a song from its nostalgic limitations
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8.0
64340
8.0 |
The Irish Times
A fantastically warm, infectious and curious set of synth-pop
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8.0
64517
8.0 |
Crack
A band with a consistently potent catalogue, as well a deserved potential breakthrough record in Singles
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8.0
64657
8.0 |
God Is In The TV
Whilst Singles might not be an album you feel the need to dig into and spend time trying to get under the skin of, it will always be waiting for you with open arms and a toothy grin
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8.0
65475
8.0 |
Fact
Future Islands most gloriously pop record
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8.0
64011
8.0 |
The Quietus
While their last two albums were almost overwhelmingly emotional, Singles focuses on the hooks first, and as a result this is their most memorable set of songs yet
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8.0
63951
8.0 |
Pitchfork
Singles is risky, but the strength of the songwriting carries it over
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8.0
63961
8.0 |
NME
Pop music of almost unparalleled poignancy
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8.0
63748
8.0 |
DIY
There remains no other band sounding remotely like Future Islands
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8.0
63849
8.0 |
Under The Radar
Singles accentuates the band's softer tones and frames its wild bursts of energy with sharper focus. Singles makes Future Islands more accessible without sacrificing integrity
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8.0
63736
8.0 |
Drowned In Sound
It is a welcome progression from a group who have always pushed themselves as much as the listeners
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8.0
63738
8.0 |
The Skinny
An impressively assured record, particularly in terms of its robust, coherent sonic palette
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8.0
63739
8.0 |
Uncut
Stirring synth-pop writ bold emotional colours. Print edition only
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8.0
63740
8.0 |
Mojo
Ecstatic melancholy has never sounded quite so free. Print edition only
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8.0
63746
8.0 |
The Music
Balancing new wave whimsy with wistful heartbreak on a dangerous knife’s edge
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7.9
64019
7.9 |
Paste Magazine
Future Islands are direct in their influences, with ‘80s pop music and contemporary synth-pop both pretty obvious touchstones
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7.5
64027
7.5 |
Beardfood
If you had your heart dramatically broken in the 80s, here's the record you've been waiting for all along. Intense
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7.5
63912
7.5 |
Consequence Of Sound
No album will ever supplant their trademark live show, but at the very least, the confidence they’re putting to tape sure makes Singles‘ audacious title acceptable
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7.0
63917
7.0 |
Loud And Quiet
As a sign of things to come, it’s an exciting record, but not all the tracks here hit the dizzy heights of the opening salvo
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7.0
63968
7.0 |
Rolling Stone
Future Islands could be just one more band of Eighties-y synth romantics. The difference is singer Samuel T. Herring
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7.0
64013
7.0 |
Slant Magazine
Though rock has always been the ideal genre for artists to explore entropy, Herring and his bandmates have somehow found a way to inject what is arguably the safest kind of music, adult pop, with their own weird brand of controlled chaos
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6.0
63947
6.0 |
Clash
Herring’s growling vocals prevent proceedings from becoming too gloopy or nostalgic, and make ‘Singles’ a new-wave treasure
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6.0
64453
6.0 |
PopMatters
Four years ago you could have packed into Death By Audio in Brooklyn, losing and finding some bit of yourself in the band’s earlier work. Those moments are gone, and now we have the Letterman performance and a critical consensus that this is Future Islands’ big break
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4.0
63850
4.0 |
The FT
In Samuel T Herring, Future Islands have a raspy, yowling, classic-soul singer.
But here’s the catch: the Baltimore trio sets his exuberant vocals not to retro-soul/R&B but synthpop
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