The members of Baltimore-based synthpop trio Future Islands are making sure fans in their home city are the first to hear them play their new album live.
The group will play “The Far Field,” their fifth album due for release on April 7, at the Ottobar on its release night, per a Twitter announcement. Tickets won’t be easy to come by. The band today launched a “randomized ticket lottery” to grant entry to a lucky few-hundred-or-so people who can squeeze into what the Charles Village venue that night. The lucky winners will find out this Wednesday at 9 a.m. if they have a chance to purchase tickets and have three hours to buy them before they’re passed over, the band said.
Future Islands has already built plentiful buzz for their newest album with a single called “Ran,” released in early February. The song banks on romantic, pleading appeals from lead singer Sam Herring and the same synthesized foundations that catapulted them to international recognition several years ago. Pitchfork rightfully compared the single to A-ha’s 1985 “Take on Me,” and NPR called it “thumping and fantastically infectious” after they released the music video for the song (above). Just over a week after the song’s release, they played it live on “The Tonight Show” starring Jimmy Fallon.
Future Islands’ April 7 show at the Ottobar kicks off an eight-month international tour in which they’ll headline at Coachella in April and Bonnaroo in June and play dozens of top venues across the United States and Europe throughout 2017. Next week is your only scheduled chance to see them in Baltimore this year, though they’ll also come through Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Charlottesville in late May for those willing to travel.
