Islands - Arm's Way
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Music CD Cover
Artist: IslandsEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 2008-05-20
Music Label: Anti
Soundtracks:
- The Arm
- Pieces of You
- J'aime Vous Voire Quitter
- Abominable Snow
- Creeper
- Kids Don't Know Shit
- Life In Jail
- In the Rushes
- We Swim
- To a Bond
- I Feel Evil Creeping In
- Vertigo (If it's a Crime)
Free Music Notes for Arm's Way
Free Music Review: Islands - Arm's Way 8.5/10
Hit: 4 Stars
There seems to be no dam on the creative juices of Islands frontman Nick "Diamonds" Thorburn, erstwhile leader of one-and-done indie heroes The Unicorns and artistic freak of nature. While I haven't had the pleasure of diving into Islands' first release, Return To The Sea, I'd be hard pressed to find another album as chock-full of wildly divergent ideas as Arm's Way. And the amazing thing is that most of these crazy sketches actually work out for the best.
Opener "The Arm" starts off softly with a tinge of crashing cymbals here, a gentle guitar melody there, topped off with a slowly building hum, before exploding into one of the most epic guitar riffs I've heard in indie rock this year, complete with arching violins and enough musical shifts to last half an album (the marching interlude is particularly effective). But the song doesn't lose itself; Thorburn's chameleonic voice directs the song where he wants it to go and its varied stages flow along naturally.
With such a good start, it's hard to see how Islands can keep up the momentum, but they give it their best shot with the jittery indie-pop of "Pieces of You," which sounds like a jaunty sea chantey with a superb chorus to match. Thorburn's lyrics are cryptic and obtuse at turns, and his twisted sense of humor is never in short supply: "They found your bones in the homes of a thousand little gnomes / who've taken pieces for decoration" is just one tidbit.
"J'aime Vous Voire Quitter" sounds like Wolf Parade on speed with an absurd surf-rock outro as a bonus, and "Creeper" is a sexy, slightly disturbing metaphor of murder and love driven by staccato strings and a slinky guitar line.
The album is irrefutably dark, the lyrics, at least those one can understand, often about death in some form or another. This is balanced by the lush production, which was no doubt ramped up considerably due to their move to a bigger label, and songs bounce along on pleasing guitar pulses and sweeping string arrangements.
The sheer amount of ideas tends to overwhelm the album shortly after the first 7-minute song, "In The Rushes." Usually, one 7-minute long song is enough for an indie-pop record, but Islands crams another and an 11-minute finale to boot. "Rushes" energy never flags, hopping between baroque pop to arena rock and back with ease and imagination, but it causes the following songs to pale in comparison. "To A Bond" nearly matches "Rushes" inspiration, taking Thorburn's violin fixation to a whole new level and shaping up to be another promising epic, but throws away its potential in the last two minutes in a maelstrom of sonic junk.
Bloated closer "Vertigo (If It's A Crime) is a fitting summation of the preceding record, somehow evoking practically of the album's different styles and bringing everything from calypso rhythms to blazing guitar rock to jangly indie pop, coalescing in a mind-numbing kitchen-sink of a jam to close the song. It's excessive, schizophrenic, and all over the place, but is also confident, inventive, and fairly bursting with creativity. The same can be said for the rest of Arm's Way, and while sometime Islands' ideas may run away from them, more often than not they end up with something new and remarkably accomplished.
Arm's Way Poster
Montreal's Islands flower from the same scene that gave us Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade. Their Anti debut finds them in full command of a palette of classic pop colorings, from the 70s rock heroics of "The Arm" to the slinky cinematic pop of "I Feel Evil Creeping In".Islands is the aftermath of the breakup of popular experimental lofi indie rock band the Unicorns, members Nicholas Thorburn (aka Nick Diamonds on vocals, guitar, keyboard) and Jaime Thompson (aka J'aime Tambeur on drums) which found the two more focused on brighter production and neopsychedelic indie pop. Since forming in early 2005, the Canadian band has also featured a fluctuating lineup of contributors on a wide variety of instruments, both live and on record. That list includes Alex and Sebastian Chow (the 1993 and 1994 World Super NES Fest champions), Jim Guthrie (grandson of Woody and nephew of Arlo) and rappers Subtitle and Busdriver.
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