Future Islands Examines the Intimacy of Relationships in the Swedish Countryside in New Video for “Glada”

American synthpop band Future Islands have officially shared their music video for their single “Glada.” The song is from the band’s 2020 project, As Long As You Are which was released via 4AD.

The project, according to a recent press release, “looks at the past as well as the future, confronting old ghosts and embracing a new hope. It is an album about trust, full of honesty, redemption and ‘letting go,’ allowing wounds to heal and bringing painful chapters to a close.”

The song and video paint a picture of both a blossoming and aging love. The two characters in the video shift ages throughout the film as their faces shift from youthful to more of a seasoned look. The scenery continues to blossom as they age, which is symbolic of the love between the characters.

Julia Ragnarsson, the director of the video and the band’s frontman, Samuel Herring’s partner, shares the story behind the video in a statement in a recent press release. “‘Glada’ is a song written about the exact place that I’m now quarantined, with my parents. A song about a past–grown over, the coming of a budding spring and the birds that regularly circle our house and the fields and forests surrounding.”

Check out the video below.

Herring shared in the press release his feelings towards the direction of the video. “The main treatment for the video was a portrait of the Swedish countryside with Julia’s parents as the protagonist. They filmed in the spring, summer, and most recently in the early fall of last year. For me, most importantly, it captures the place the song is about, which is all I wanted to share in the first place.”

Prior to the release of their album, the band shared a couple of singles from the project including “Thrill” and “For Sure.” They also released some tracks from the album during performance in Massachusetts in September 2019.

Future Islands also released an album in 2017 titled The Far Field , which features songs like “Aladdin,” “Ran,” and “Cave.” The band announced the release of their 2017 project accompanied by the drop of their single “Ran.”

Photo Credit: Owen Ela