Synth-rockers Future Islands aren’t out to make a political statement with their work – but they do think they can make the world a better place.

The trio bring new album The Far Field to the Barrowland tonight.

It is an album of soaring anthems that touches upon both heartbreak and optimism.

“We have always tried to stay away from politics, because for me mainly there’s too much to know to make any direct statements, outside of easy things to say like ‘be a kind human’,” explains the band’s charismatic singer, Samuel Herring.

“But there are things going on in the world now where it seems like there is a loss of humanity. We have always dealt with the politics of the heart, and trying to make people be more honest with themselves, and maybe more sympathetic human beings that way.

“That’s the hope for us, it’s how we want people to be treated and I think we speak to a larger politic than party politics. We hope to make people be more true to themselves and we can understand each other a bit better.”

Tonight’s sold-out show is the band’s second visit to Glasgow inside a month.

In March they supported the brilliant double-header of Sparks and Goldfrapp at the O2 Academy for a BBC Six Music festival gig.

It was before that show that the Evening Times got the chance to sit down with Samuel, keyboardist Gerrit Welmers and bassist William Cashion, and chat about The Far Field. The record has a theme running through it of life on the road, reflecting the massive changes the group went through in recent years.

A TV appearance that featured Samuel dancing wildly while performing Seasons (Waiting On You) went viral, flinging the band into the spotlight as they promoted their fourth album.

“We know a lot of people consider this our second album,” acknowledges Samuel, referring to The Far Field.

“The Far Field is really a reflection on what happened during 2014 and 2015, in the same way that [their last album] Singles was a reaction to the five years of touring before that, and being unnoticed.”

Now the band have enough of a name that legendary Blondie singer Debbie Harry can drop by to duet on a song on the album, Shadows. The one downside for the trio is that they still haven’t actually met the pop icon.

“Shadows had been written for Singles as a duet, but we just couldn’t find the right singer for it,” says Gerrit.

“We picked it back up for this, but still couldn’t figure out a singer. At that point John [Congleton, who produced the album] mentioned Debbie Harry, and we thought she wouldn’t say yes, but she did. We haven’t met her yet though, which is the bummer in this story. She recorded vocals in New York, and emailed them over to us.”

The band’s rise to fame can be seen the size of Scottish venues they’re now playing, with tickets for tonight’s Barrowland gig like goldust.

“We always have a really good time in Glasgow, or Scotland as a whole,” says William.

“I think the first time we came here was 2009, and we’ve really been building it up since then. The first place we did was Cassette, which was basically a pizza bar, and now we’re here at places like the Academy or Barrowland.”

Constantly living on the road can be a draining experience, but it didn’t too long for the band to be eager to be back out there again.

“This has become our life now,” says Samuel.

“As much as we wanted to get off the road in 2015, I found myself wanting to get back on it just as fast. It’s something that I love. Although it is really hard sometimes, I couldn’t do without it.”

Future Islands, Barrowland, tonight, sold out, 7pm