Friday, February 24, 2006
The following entry is from Wikipedia, a terrific on-line resource.
Islands is a musical band formed in Canada in early 2005, featuring Nick Diamonds (Nicholas Thorburn) on vocals, J'aime Tambeur (Jamie Thompson) on drums, Patrice Agbokou on bass, and at least temporarily, Jim Guthrie on guitar. Islands is a band that is always in flux, with membership changing when appropriate. Most recently two string players, Alex Chow and Sebastian Chow, and a bass clarinetist, Patrick Gregoire, joined the band.
Although the two founding members of Islands (Nick and Jamie) were members of The Unicorns, Islands is a completely new and independent project. This, in contrast to Th' Corn Gangg, which began as a direct off-shoot project of The Unicorns several months prior to their December 2004 break-up.
One of Islands' first live performances was opening for Beck at the 2005 Pop Montreal music festival. In late October of 2005 Islands went on a short tour with Beck on the west coast of the USA.
In mid-2005 Islands recorded a debut album titled Return To The Sea, which is expected to be released in April of 2006. The album was recorded in Montreal, Canada, at Breakglass Studio and in Jamie's bedroom, and was produced by audio engineer / record producer Mark Lawson.
Return To The Sea was re-mastered in England for the European version of the album, and will be released there by Rough Trade Records. The North Amercian situation with respect to the album is still unclear.
The album features numerous guest appearances, including members of Arcade Fire. Two songs, "Flesh" and "Abominable Snow", have been released to public, and were available at The Simple Mission in June of 2005, though neither will appear on the debut album. Note that "Abominable Snow", written by Nick Diamonds, is a remake, as it was originally played live by The Unicorns on numerous occasions.
Return To The Sea has been described by Nick as having "some dancehall influences, some calypso... It's more diverse and sprawling and ambitious" and is "A bit more mature than The Unicorns... More of a Neil Young / Brian Wilson vibe running through it."
Review of Return to the Sea
First off, let me just say, if you listen to this album without comparing to any of the work by the Unicorns, then you will most definitely love it. On my first listen a few months ago, I didn't really care for it, but now I think it's great. It starts out kind of slow, with the 9+ minute opener Swans (Life After Death), but picks up from there, until the bonus 16-minute, 11th track. The album totals about 63 minutes in all, and if you have nothing to do for an hour, I strongly recommend making use of it by listening to this album. The clever pop hooks of the Unicorns
Another feature that Return to the Sea shares with Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone, the Unicorn's brilliant album in 2003, are clever lyrics throughout the entire album accompanying catchy hooks.
The theme of death that the Unicorns were obsessed with does not leave the new Islands' album.
On one of the best songs on the album, "Volcanoes", it begins off with a man saying:
"My name is Oscar. I was killed in 1936...by my brother. I'm a demon. I want you to know that the world is going to end in 2007."
The chorus desribes the Apocalypse by means of volcanoes as the title suggests:
"We washed our mouths at the riverbed when we noticed something glowing
It was growing. Things are going to change
Hot rainfalls made of magma melts Alaska
And in icy Argentine they say now I've seen it all
Who knew?
Volcanoes"
And later on, there's quite a familiar wailing of "I'm so afraid to die."
Fall all you enthusiasts of the side project Th' Corn Gangg the song "Where There's a Will There's A Whalebone" will be a delight for you, where they suddenly break into rap and even though I have no clue what they're saying, it's also one of the best tracks.
Overall, I think Return to the Sea is a contender for album of the year so far, and if you like it, you should definitely go buy it when it comes out! I think you could do it here.
Otherwise, here's the link for the Islands' album Return to the Sea:
http://rapidshare.de/files/14053139/Return_to_the_Sea.rar.html
Be the Islands' friend at their Myspace, where they have posted one of their better songs from Return to the Sea, "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby".
