ALAYA Reviews Megathread

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The focus of the album falls heavily on its unified atmosphere — a synthy matrix that ranges from haunting and brooding, like in “I Knew You”, to outright bright, like in “Waking”, which acts indeed akin to a wake-up call at the album’s midpoint. For an album so tonally continuous, it does accommodate a fair amount of texture, as well as some incisive and surprising lyrics —  like from “The Painter”: “Sienna yellow/ Fire apple hue/ I’m screaming at the dust, ‘Is this good by you?’” - Cos

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Future Islands took their time crafting their new music, carefully creating the sounds, tempos, and moods we hear on As Long As You Are. The opening song “Glada” possesses a breezy airiness that captures the freedom of a bird in flight. Herring celebrates a rebirth in the song, reflecting on a new relationship with his fiancée, Swedish actress Julia Ragnarsson. The relationship, which has resulted in Herring relocating to Sweden, has brought him happiness, inner peace, and contentment. By the way, “glada” is a Swedish word for “kite.” - WFUV

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Even when the tempo – and urgency – of these songs occasionally drops, they are rescued from mediocrity by Herring’s affecting lyrics: several songs contemplate the wreckages of toxic relationships with unflinching honesty. But there’s redemption here, too. Hit the Coast finds him putting the bad times behind him, and heading for a brighter future, “flying and free”. - The Guardian

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Herring’s vocals, too, are more restrained and introspective than we’ve come to expect. In ‘As Long’, he’s clearly a man who’s had his wings burned. This is nowhere truer than on the brutal ‘I Knew You’ and the haunting ‘City’s Face’. These two toxic tales depict the tortured frontman reflecting on his past relationships as he quivers: “We walked into the pines / And sat amongst the graves / You told me you’d been fine / Since I poisoned your life,” on the former while on the latter he bitterly cries: “I believed, for too long / What you did to me, wasn’t wrong / I grew to hate you / And this place too” over downbeat synth stabs. - NME

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However, as much as there is to grieve and thrash over, As Long As You Are doesn’t dwell on the darkness of our American failure for too long; there’s plenty of exploring matters of the heart. “Moonlight” is another study of intimacy in the style Future Islands have become known for: full of tender details, but sonically aggressive. Herring offers up his heart and then asks that the receiver not “break it” before singing, “So we just lay in bed all day / I couldn’t see a cloud in my arms.” “For Sure,” another pulsing single, finds freedom within a relationship as Herring promises, “I will never keep you from an open door / I know, you know / That’s how much I feel in everything you are.” It’s a rather comforting covenant. - Paste

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Some of the album's other highlights include the gentle "City's Face", a ballad that's delivered with a light, sophisticated touch and sounds almost like a lost track from Roxy Music's Avalon. Then there's the swaggering, airtight funk of "The Painter", and the winsome closing track "Hit the Coast", in which Herring accepts the end of a relationship and equates it with his love of music. "Pressing play on this old tape was a bad move," he sings. "Reduced to hiss / This record I loved / Some record I've missed / Just static - an absence." The song ends abruptly with the clunky sound of a cassette player hitting "stop." It's an appropriate closing moment for an album that pays tribute to the past while emotionally resonant and sonically thrilling. - Pop Matters

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Songs are able to breathe, with new introspective sounds developing and blossoming, such as the plaintive middle-section of ‘I Knew You’ and the simple, ricocheting beat of album closer ‘Hit The Coast’. As Long as You Are is the rejuvenated sound of a band who finally found what they are looking for. Dive in. - Loud and Quiet

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‘Glada’ is a dip your toes in the water kind of opener, gently bringing you in before you’re soon tossed into their usual upbeat blend of glistening synths, funked up bass lines and of course frontman Sam‘s forever engaging vocal. ‘For Sure’ and ‘Born In A War’ are gleaming examples of what this band do best, the former coming in with a huge, arena sized chorus and the latter sporting a super funky, pepped-up bassline. - Birthday Cake for Breakfast

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It’s not that Future Islands lost the ability to write songs so fully realized they make your heart bloom and break. The dreamy “Moonlight” smolders with synthesizers that glisten like violets at night, and the bass is searching and soft. Herring’s baritone is expressive; he sings about putting his whole heart on the table in the hopes that his lover won’t break it. The production is cavernous as ever, plucked from the depths of OMD B-sides and the most blue-eyed of New Order singles. But it sounds like any other Future Islands record from the past decade: The scaffolding is the same, just slightly more polished and streamlined. - Pitchfork

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The first two tracks focus on themes of love and trust, but the theme switches up on the third song “Born in a War,” which brings up the topic of gun violence in America. Herring said the band grew up in a town where everyone had guns, participated in hunting and attended church.  With the lyrics: “Raised up in a town that’s 80 proof / Shotgun shells under every roof — every jail / Didn’t learn a lot from public schools / All our books went off to wars — they could sell,” Herring touches on the idea that in small towns, school does not matter and having a gun is what makes a man. - Daily Titan

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Lyrically, the album tackles issues of burnout, self-doubt and overcoming the weight of heady expectations. Stylistically, the band doesn’t stray drastically from its signature sound. The album fuses alt-rock with synth-pop, alongside influences like Americana. Yet Future Islands have become more evolved and mature. Frontman Sam Herring’s unique singing stands front and center, carefully crafted and delivered with raw awkward passion. - Riff Magazine

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Most moving is “I Knew You”, on which Herring unpicks a toxic relationship. There’s a piercing bravery to lines such as: “You told me you’d been fine/ Since I poisoned your life”. Long-term fans will also love piecing together the history, as Herring sings that this ex-girlfriend is the one for whom he wrote “Long Flight” from 2011 album*, On the Water. - Independent UK

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Effervescent lead single “For Sure” finds Herring drawing strength from that partnership, the song swept along by Cashion and Lowry in equal measure, their bass and drums making equal impact as the latter makes his presence felt as their new full-time sticksman. “When you say ‘us’, you make me trust / I will never keep you from an open door,” their charismatic leader bellows, recognising that the love that has enabled him to start a new chapter in his life – both personally and professionally – and that it is a mutable thing that ebbs and flows, but crucially is there when it’s needed - Beats Per Minute

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While much of the album contains the sort of thumping New wave of Future Islands most popular songs, there is a whole side to them (and to Herring) that gets less attention than it deserves; a tender, nostalgic, sorrowful side that expresses itself through a more reflective, slower pace in a song like “I Knew You” and “City’s Face” where he sings “It’s so strange how a person can change a city’s face,” in one of the most reflective songs on the album, a song indicative of impending change to its speaker’s life, the recognition of time gone by, but like all great albums, its construction and craft goes beyond its individual songs and extends to the entire collection of tracks. Slower, more reflective tracks are balanced out by faster-paced dance tracks, and as listeners, we run the gamut of emotions right alongside Herring as he gives agonizing expression to the complexities of human life’s many phases. - Spill Magazine

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Adding to Herring’s brilliant vocal performance is the album’s fantastic lyrical composition. Herring exposes his frailty to the audience in almost every track. In another standout track, “Thrill,” Herring discusses his battle with addiction during the band’s beginning days in Greenville, North Carolina. The track envelops you in the isolated headspace Herring was in at the time. Lines detailing Herring falling apart at the local bar as the bartender refuses to give him any more drinks is another heartbreak in a series of melancholic melodies. - Daily Nebraskan

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These moments of reflection build up to “Hit the Coast,” the album’s finale and moment of relief. The track features Herring anthemically singing about packing all of his belongings into a car and escaping from all of the troubles that are plaguing his life. It’s an extremely fitting closer to an album that delves so deeply into Herring’s personal struggles. As Long As You Are doesn’t bring anything new to the table for Future Islands, but it didn’t need to. The comfort they have found in their signature sound has given them the ability to excellently execute their vision and deliver extremely moving work. This may not be the band’s best album, but it is another extremely enjoyable and emotionally impactful entry in their catalogue. - The Concordian

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