I was walking through a metro station the other day when I saw an advertising poster for Future Islands, and my mind instantly flashed back to this performance from 2014, when the band made its television debut on David Letterman’s show. Thanks to frontman Samuel T. Herring’s impassioned delivery the performance went viral, which was both a blessing and a curse. Most people loved it, but some joked about it, and Herring later said it took him six years to come to terms with that.
“Lots of people said, ‘This guy dances like nobody’s watching.’ But no,” Herring said. “I was dancing like I knew everyone was watching. I was actually holding back. That’s what was going on in my head – don’t go too far.”
The downside to that viral performance is that every time the band releases a new album, the reviewer uses the Letterman performance as a touchstone. For example, this is the lead single from their 2020 LP “As Long as You Are.” I couldn’t find a single review of the album that didn’t mention the Letterman appearance.
