Future Islands – Sail

Future Islands are marking twenty years as a band with From a Hole in the Floor to a Fountain of Youth, a double LP due May 22 on 4AD. It’s not a greatest hits — bassist William Cashion, who assembled the tracklist, was clear about that. Instead the collection pulls from split 7″s, Japanese bonus tracks, tour-exclusive VIP pressings, and one previously unreleased demo, spanning recordings from 2009 through to 2025. Around half of it has never been on streaming. The lead single “Sail” is one of two new songs previewing the release, alongside “Find Love” — which dates back to 2011 and appeared on the band’s Before the Bridge 7″.

“Sail” was produced by Steve Wright and Future Islands, mixed by Chris Coady, and recorded at WrightWay Studios in Baltimore during the As Long As You Are sessions. It was originally pressed on a VIP tour-only 7″ in 2025, meaning most people are hearing it properly for the first time now. The production sits in that familiar Future Islands register — Samuel T. Herring’s voice doing most of the emotional heavy lifting, synths holding steady underneath — but there’s something unhurried about it, more like a late-night wind-down than a set-closer. What catches my ear is how restrained it stays. For a band capable of full-throttle moments, the choice to hold back here is a deliberate one, and it works.

The album title comes from a line in the band’s 2009 song “Pinnochio”, and Cashion’s explanation of why he chose it lands well. “The hole in the floor is the everyday, but the fountain is the magic that happens when the life you dreamed about actually becomes the one you’re living,” he said. “It’s the dream and the reality existing in the same room.” That framing suits a collection like this — not career-capping, more like a thorough look through the vaults with real care about what gets included. The band have also teased a run of live dates in North Carolina and Baltimore to coincide with the release, details still to come.

From a Hole in the Floor to a Fountain of Youth arrives May 22. “Sail” is reason enough to pay attention to what else comes out of those vaults — and I’ll admit, I didn’t expect a tour-only 7″ to be one of the better things they’ve released in a while.

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Tracklist:

1. The Ink Well (2010)
2. Pinnochio (2009)
3. The Happiness of Being Twice (2009)
4. In The Fall (2010)
5. Awake and Dreaming (2010)
6. Virgo Distracts (2010)
7. Find Love (2011)
8. Cotton Flower (2012)
9. The Fountain (2012)
10. Tomorrow (2012)
11. One Day (2014)
12. The Chase (2015)
13. Calliope (2018)
14. Six Weeks (2017)
15. Haunted By You (2015)
16. Sail (2025)
17. As Long As You Are (2025)
18. Days (2020)
19. Rager (demo)
20. Glimpse (2024)