Islands

I've been listening to Islands non-stop for most of the weekend. I'm seeing their Middle East show in Boston on the 4th, and I'm wondering what to expect. I've been reading about the Arm's Way shows, and how much screwing around they did; leaving the stage and gallivanting around the streets, and letting Bus Driver freestyle in the streets before folks dispersed. I have classes the following morning, so I hope things don't go too late; but hell, it could be fun.

I discovered Islands a few years ago through Keat, although it took me a while to plug them in and give them a serious listen. I've been fangirling over them to anybody and everybody since I plugged in "Return to the Sea" on a long car ride home.

"Return to the Sea" struck me in a lot of different ways. Yeah, I liked the creepyness and darkness that their lyrics contain, but once they overdid it in "Arm's Way," that lost its luster. The tone of the album struck me immediately. They put a lot of work into production, like any good pop album, but there are so many small touches that make the album magical for me to this day: the loose snare on "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby," the wailing at the beginning of "Swans," the slightly detuned whistling on "Humans," the clicky beginning percussion for "Volcanoes," and the untouched piano of "Bucky Little Wing." They paid a lot of attention to atmosphere and tonality, how the album would actually sound in your ear and how important that was. I apprecaite that a lot.

The songwriting is also topnotch.

The arc of the album was the most compelling thing, for me. I maintain that "Swans" is a work of genius, and part of my reasoning for that lies in how it traces the rest of the album. It begins quietly and evocatively, far away from the noise and bluntness of the Unicorns year (there's a huge biographical aspect here, of course), slowly complexifying. Melody, even in the bass part is vital, and they use the drums to allow their song to unfold and curl back, letting the bits of piano or electric or wailing. The first verse / chorus part is balanced in its parts, not letting guitars or noise become the predominant force. In the second part, the piano gets so much more rhythmic importance, and the crazy wailing and the guitars trade prominance and importance. They keep grooving on those same bits, and have a nice breakdown which bleeds back into so much more noise. We get one last, simple restatement, before everything gets back into full force, turning finally into a flat out prog rocky sort of ending. But just after that, all the parts break away into their parts, holding rhythms and bathing in the same noise without much in the way of direction. Where the hell are we? Where did we go in the last 9 minutes?

The song becomes more and more complex and layered, eventually more noisey and rocky, then breaking down, just as the album does. The sardonic "Humans" and creepily light "Whitney" become longer and more beat-heavy songs like "Rough Gem" and "Joggin' Gorgeous Summer," which in turn culminate in "Volcanoes." They're playing around with what pop does; sit back and hop along, or grab you. The end of the album is a huge decrescendo from "Volcanoes": "If" and "Ones" exist in their own, frightening sort of stripped down universe, and "Bucky" is simple in a way that no other song on the album dares to be. Just like "Swans," we built up to the crazy proggy stuff, and then had to face the consequences and results: this after-noise, this openness and use of silence in "Bucky" or the hypnosis of "Ones."

"Bucky," I think, is the best possible way to end the album. The song is simply piano and some vocal backing, and the structure is simple. There's no subtlty, on one hand, and no noise, on the other. The subject matter isn't creepy, like death or cannibalism, but simply stated and sad: racism and friendship, death and departure. It's the perfect cap on the album: "despite all the places and crescendoes we've gone through, let's break everything down and talk about something incredibly organic for a while. you'll have to wait through 4 minutes of rain to hear it, but it's worth it." And it is! It's a strange and exciting end to the kind of journey we've just gone through.



I highly doubt we'll hear much of "Return to the Sea." Even though Jamie's back, they have better songs to play at concerts. The entirety of "Arm's Way" sort of sucks, but has a better beat and must be easier to play; and of course, there's the new album to tour, and a lot of those cuts are very good for live or for radio. I expect "Switched On" for an opener, and somewere in there: "No You Don't", "Vapours" (maybe a closer), "Tender Torture" (definitely), "Heartbeat" (probably), "Disarming the Car Bomb" (likely), "The Arm" (totally), "J'Aime Vous Voir Quitter" (unless this is really a veiled reference to Jaime leaving, in which he wouldn't like to), "Creeper" (clearly), "We Swim" (maybe), "I Feel Evil Creping In" (yeah), and maybe "Rough Gem." Trust me, though, if they throw in "Swans" or break things down for "Bucky," you can be sure I'll be grasping at Nick and Jamie in lurv. I'll be on the sides hydrating during Toro Y Moi, but I'll be up at the front for Jemina Pearl.

So fucking EXCITED!