On the Water (Bonus Track Version)

Editors’ Notes Future Islands’ take on synth-stained New Wave becomes a deeply spiritual exercise in the hands of frontman Samuel T. Herring, whose effortlessly soaring tenor laces the band’s music with an unrestrained performative gusto. The New Order-esque bass surges on "Before the Bridge" amplify Herring’s ruminations on the fragility of love, while Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner turns the crystalline "The Great Fire" into a wounded power duet. As the fleet beats of “Balance” demonstrate, though, sometimes the best cure for heartbreak is simply dancing the night away.