Islands
The place is Breakglass Studio in Montreal, Canada. The year is 2005. The shit going down is Islands recording their debut album, Return to the Sea, with producer Mark Lawson and guest spots from the likes of A Silver Mt. Zion, Wolf Parade and Arcade Fire, a record which the world will eventually go loopy for when it gets released in the April of the following year. Equator put it out in ‘States, Rough Trade did the work in the UK. All the boxes ticked, then.
But wait a second – just who are these Islands fellows? They are Nicholas Thorburn (aka Nick T.), Aaron Harris, Patrice Agbokou, Patrick Gregoire, and Alex and Sebastian Chow. Jamie Thompson (aka J\'aime Tambeur), Jim Guthrie, Kate Perkins and Mike Feuerstack used to be in the band too. But now they’re not. And now you know.
After the debut album, wherever Islands went, audiences followed – sometimes quite literally, as the band took to leading their crowds, Pier Piper style, out of the venues to close their shows. Interestingly, their touring buddies included two of the finest purveyors of modern hip hop in Cadence Weapon and Why?, which proved to be an inspired move for a diversely entertaining night out.
As it happens, they’re on tour at the minute too, with a new line up and a new album’s worth of songs in the shape of the much admired Arm’s Way. You can catch them playing tracks from that, as well as the odd Kinks or Sinead O’Conner cover, at a venue near you.
ISLANDSAREFOREVER.COM: Very regularly updated news, a shop, some videos, tour dates – all you need really.
MYSPACE.COM/ISLANDS: Essentially everything that their official site, mentioned above, does so well. But with all the added bonuses of MySpace.
SECRETUNICORNSFORUM.COM: A forum to obsessively discuss what every member of proto-Islands band Unicorns are up to at the minute. Some interesting stuff, it turns out.
RETURN TO THE SEA: “An album crammed with innocent disguise and run and hide, ‘Return to the Sea’, sees the band refusing to settle in a single location, cruising across their ocean in search of adventure, sampling local delights before moving on in search of fresh pastures…”
LIVE @ HOXTON BAR AND KITCHEN, LONDON, 26/2/2008: “Tonight Islands, and Thorburn in particular, seem on a mission to prove that they are more than just a whimsical indie-pop band - and at times these songs sound like they really could stand up against the best of the Arcade Fire and their epic ilk…”
THE ARM:
CREEPER: