Future Islands

New Order is the single most cited architectural influence on Future Islands' sound. William Cashion's melodic, high-register bass playing is explicitly modeled on Peter Hook's New Order style — running countermelodies above the mix rather than anchoring the bottom. Multiple critics have described Future Islands as sounding like 'New Order following their sojourn in Ibiza,' and the comparison appears in virtually every review the band has ever received. The band's drum machine pulse, synth washes, and dancefloor-facing melancholy are all New Order blueprints.

"It really did sound like Waits growling over New Order following their sojourn in Ibiza."

The Guardian ↗

Joy Division is one of three bands the members of Future Islands explicitly name as their foundational influences — alongside Kraftwerk and New Order. William Cashion has cited Peter Hook's bass work in Joy Division as a direct model. The band's post-punk architecture, emotional severity, and minimalist drum machine framework all carry Joy Division's DNA. Herring's willingness to push his voice to the point of breaking — the guttural growl that defined the Letterman performance — is a direct descendant of Ian Curtis's physical, possessed vocal delivery.

"Our early influences were Kraftwerk and Joy Division and New Order, so it all kind of came from those sounds."

Smile Politely ↗

Kraftwerk is the third pillar of Future Islands' self-described founding trinity, alongside Joy Division and New Order. The band's synth-forward architecture, rigid drum machine programming, and cool electronic minimalism all trace directly to Kraftwerk's blueprint. Gerrit Welmers — the keyboardist and backbone of Future Islands' sound — built his synthesizer vocabulary from Kraftwerk's palette. The band literally began with borrowed Casio and Yamaha keyboards, trying to approximate sounds they'd heard on Kraftwerk records.

"Our early influences were Kraftwerk and Joy Division and New Order, so it all kind of came from those sounds. We were just using what we had at our disposal — old Casio and Yamaha keyboards and a borrowed bass guitar."

Smile Politely ↗

OMD's early 80s synthesizer architecture is embedded in Future Islands' DNA at the keyboard level. Multiple critics and the band itself have cited OMD as a defining influence. The Guardian's 2024 review of People Who Aren't There Anymore notes 'synthesisers rooted in the band's love of early 80s OMD.' NPR described their In Evening Air sound as having 'a hint of epic 80s synth-pop artists like OMD.' The melodic optimism and emotional directness of OMD's Architecture & Morality-era records run directly through Future Islands' most anthemic material.

"From the ghostly synths that christen 'Walking Through That Door,' there's a hint of epic '80s synth-pop artists like Yaz or O.M.D."

The Guardian ↗

William Cashion has explicitly cited The Cure as a direct personal influence. The Cure's ability to blend gothic emotional darkness with infectious pop structures — Disintegration's cathedral sound meeting Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me's warmth — maps directly onto Future Islands' signature move: turning heartbreak into a dancefloor event. The Cure's emotional maximalism and Robert Smith's willingness to be nakedly vulnerable in pop music is the emotional permission slip for everything Samuel T. Herring does.

Wikipedia ↗

Tom Waits is the most frequently cited vocal reference point for Samuel T. Herring's distinctive baritone growl and emotional extremity. The Guardian's famous description of Future Islands as 'Tom Waits growling over New Order' is the most quoted critical summary of the band's sound. Herring's preacher-like delivery, his willingness to break his own voice for emotional effect, his theatrical stage presence, and his comfort with the full emotional spectrum from crooning whisper to guttural roar — all of this carries Waits' DNA directly.

"It really did sound like Waits growling over New Order."

The Guardian ↗

The parallel between Future Islands and Talking Heads runs deeper than sonic similarity. Both bands were formed at art school as performance projects — Future Islands at East Carolina University, Talking Heads at RISD. Both built their sounds from the intersection of post-punk, funk, and art-school conceptualism. Samuel T. Herring's physically committed, emotionally unguarded stage performance draws directly on David Byrne's theatrical presence. Off the Bandwagon noted that Future Islands' sound 'is reminiscent of the music of bands like Talking Heads and OMD.'

Off the Bandwagon ↗

NPR's foundational review of In Evening Air identified David Bowie as the closest reference point for Samuel T. Herring's melodic sensibility — specifically the shape and drama of Bowie's Berlin Trilogy-era vocal lines. Bowie's theatrical persona, his art-school restlessness, and his crossover from glam-rock theatrics to synth-pop on Low and Heroes are all threads running through Future Islands' aesthetic DNA. Herring's stage movements — the chest-beating, the sudden drops, the arms-outstretched moments of surrender — carry something of Bowie's physical commitment to inhabiting a performance.

"His melodies often have the shape and drama of David Bowie's, but with a tone-color akin to a gritty crooner."

NPR ↗

William Cashion cited Kim Deal of The Pixies and The Breeders as a direct bass influence alongside Peter Hook. The Pixies' quiet-loud dynamic architecture — the sudden shifts between tender verses and explosive choruses — is a structural DNA donor for Future Islands' songwriting. The band also signed to 4AD, the same label that launched The Pixies, creating an institutional lineage that mirrors the sonic one. Kim Deal's melodic bass approach, running hooks rather than bottom-end support, reinforces what Cashion absorbed from Peter Hook.

Wikipedia ↗

Nation of Language is Last.fm's highest-rated similar artist to Future Islands — a perfect match score of 1.0. The Brooklyn synth-pop band openly operates in the Future Islands tradition of melodic post-punk synth-pop with earnest, emotionally direct delivery. Their debut album Introduction, Presence (2020) draws on the same well of Joy Division, New Order, and OMD that Future Islands built their sound from, filtered through the same contemporary sensibility. They are the clearest example of Future Islands' influence on the next generation of synth-pop.

Last.fm ↗