Future Islands

Self-described as New Wave Soul and Roll, Trans Future’s sound reflects the eclectic influences that warrant the inventive term, but a closer listen reveals their music is as much about what’s not there as what is. Each musician’s part is salient and distinct, but leaves space for the musical conversation to unfold. While space can be what makes things fall apart, the space TF creates is the architectural element that holds their music so tightly together. Space seems to come naturally to a band who formed in early 2020, masked and distanced, in the height of the pandemic, It’s hard to trace the twists and turns that led the four rooted Montanas from their Treasure State origins into the same room in Missoula, but seeds for the project may have been sown decades ago. TF could have been a glimmer in the eyes of Billings teens Chris Knudson and Jay Ward when they first picked up instruments after bonding over Iron Maiden, Devo, and the Misfits, or when Kateena Bell and her sisters were belting out Prince, TLC, and anything Disney in three part harmony on a makeshift stage in their childhood home of Brady, population 140. And perhaps the suggestion for TF entered the Universe when Jesse Rockwood left his hometown of Missoula, inspired by early exposure to a Harry Balafonte eight track, on a mission to find the true roots of rhythm in Cuba, after percussion studies at the U of M left him hungry. Though the songs on their debut album draw on decades of bassist Jay Ward’s writing, TF’s music is a collaboration of heart and talent. Jay lays down the bones with the bass line which Chris fleshes out with colorful guitar tones, and Jesse animates the heart with a steady drum pulse. When Miss Kateena Bell’s voice fills the lungs of the melody line, the song comes alive as an entity unto itself. When the four members of TF take the stage, something ignites that could only be described as synergy, and you find yourself looking around for a fifth member, the mysterious element that produces sound that is somehow greater than the sum of all parts.