Future Islands was never meant to last. After eighteen years and 1,400 live shows, Future Islands show they’re not only still here, they’re making the most powerful music of their fascinating, but unexpectedly long and storied career.

For Future Islands, albums aren’t a static reflection of a moment in time, they are a fluid chapter in their lives that can change and mutate. People change and pull away. The band is no different, coming up against their future while staring at their past. They’re not the same people they were when Future Islands began nearly two decades ago. They are now spread about, some settled down and some still moving. People Who Aren’t There Anymore reflects the transience of a band’s existence; the rare privilege of travelling all over the world contrasting with the sadness of fleeting moments in and out people’s lives. Being everywhere but also nowhere. Remembering the lives lost and the living they’ll never see again, cherishing the present and being grateful for the past.

Today, less than two months following the final tour date of their As Long As You Are tour, Future Islands announce the details of their new album People Who Aren’t There Anymore which will be released January 26, 2024. The seventh album from the band – Samuel T. Herring (vocals, lyrics), William Cashion (bass, guitars), Gerrit Welmers (keyboards, programming), and Michael Lowry (drums) – follows 2020’s As Long As You Are. People Who Aren’t There Anymore heralds a new chapter for Future Islands who, despite having formed nearly two decades ago, continue to challenge themselves and each other.

Where they’ve pursued ever-higher energy anthems in the past, they’ve turned inward this time, and unlocked a new level of ferocity, delivering some of their most inspiring and most heartbreaking tracks by doing the opposite: taking their time, making each breath, each syllable, each cymbal crash count. The result is a powerful, defining statement from a group of musicians that have made the best album of their career.

Along with the announcement, the band shares a new single from the album, “The Tower”, alongside a video directed by Jonathan van Tulleken (Top Boy, Shogun). This marks the second project Van Tulleken and Herring have worked on together — the two collaborated on Apple TV’s The Changeling, whose first season aired this Fall.

The track follows previously released singles ‘“Deep In The Night”, “King of Sweden” and “Peach”, which also feature on People Who Aren’t There Anymore.

People Who Aren’t There Anymore was co-produced by Future Islands and Steve Wright, and mixed by Steve Wright and Chris Coady (who returns to working with the band for the first time since 2014’s Singles).