If you can spare the four minutes, or so, that it takes to watch Future Islands perform on David Letterman from 2014, you’ll likely find it delightful, extraordinary. It also changed the lives of the Baltimore-based band’s members in ways the group could never have imagined. Ever since, Future Islands has gone on lengthy tours and amassed hundreds of thousands of fans. But the success has also allowed for the band’s members the freedom in their down time to explore other creative impulses and dig into new creative goals. The result for the group’s bassist, William Cashion, was the June release of his debut solo record, Postcard Music, a collection of ambient song. And American Songwriter is proud to premiere the video for the record’s single, “Vizcaya,” here today.
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“We didn’t really see the Letterman thing coming when it happened,” Cashion says. “It kind of blindsided us and I think we’ve been catching up ever since, honestly.”
Modesty aside, the Late Night appearance was certainly a clear point of upward trajectory for the band. But it’s also assuredly deserved. The ripple effects of that notoriety and what they allow, offers or does to those in the eye of the storm, however, is not always predictable. Specifically for Cashion, who says he’s wanted to release a solo record for sometime, the band’s success allowed him, after the most recent lengthy tour, to take some time away with his wife and just lean into their mutual love of creativity.
“Most of what would become Postcard Music was written after the very end of The Far Field tour for Future Islands’ last record,” Cashion says. “Me and my wife took a month and just went to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and set up in the dining room at this house.”
Cashion’s wife is a painter. And together, the two filled that dining room with sound and color as they mutually followed their inspirations. The idea to get away from everything likely didn’t seem abnormal to the Cashion couple’s friends and the band, though. After all, Cashion says he recently took up meditation, which also deeply influenced his new LP. He likes the practice of serenity and the space and quiet to clear the mind.
“One thing I like about ambient music,” Cashion says, “is that it can let your mind blur. You don’t have to focus on anything, there’s no focal point. You mind can wander.”
On the song, “Vizcaya,” Cashion takes his time, meanders. Often, by rule, ambient music doesn’t move too fast. It has relatively low peaks and relatively shallow valleys. It’s the sound of floating. The soundtrack to a feather in the breeze. But even ambient music can include a slight, subtle narrative. On this particular song, Cashion says he kept coming back to the idea of a storm, some oncoming, looming dark clouds that could spring up at any moment. So, the song’s music video includes appropriate imagery, sensations and tone. With a bit of storm in the final frames.
“’Vizcaya’ was one of the earliest songs I wrote for the record, even before the Outer Banks trip,” Cashion says. “It was originally, like, 15-minutes long. And that song became the centerpiece to the record.”
That storms – or, precipitation – were on his mind when he wrote the song also makes sense. Postcard Music, Cashion says, is a love letter to the ocean. And, he says, at times, after shows, audience members would approach him and said they followed his direction on stage. They’ll say that when he directed them to close their eyes mid-song, they did and, as the music progressed, they began to cry – more water works. Perhaps it’s because ambient music feels fluid, feels as if you can reflect on it as if your very visage in a pool of water, or that, like a well, you can draw from it steadily – perhaps that’s why Cashion’s music is so saturating.
Regardless, Cashion, who first fell in love with music at 11-years-old (thanks, in part, to the Smashing Pumpkins), has learned a great deal in his time as both a student of song and as a participant within it. He is capable of creating rock ‘n’ roll music or songs that sound like the sands of time gently dropping to their new homes in the world. In fact, the artist says, sand actually might have a lot to do with the follow-up solo ambient record he writes and releases.
“Sometimes I wonder what my next solo record is going to sound like,” Cashion says. “I keep thinking about the desert. I think I’m going to spend some time there and see what a desert record would sound like.”
