Ski Mask

Nick Thorburn’s creative streak continues under all circumstances. His divorce fueled the down-and-out reflections from the previous year’s *A Sleep & a Forgetting* and casts an emotional hangover on *Ski Mask*. With the exception of the ebullient “Wave Forms,” the general tone here is of anger and frustration. The lyrics paint a picture, but the music colors in the feeling; whether it’s the complicated guitar-keyboard knots of “Death Drive” or the ennui-loaded, Triffids-like reverb tinting the somber balladry of “Becoming the Gunship,” there’s a beautiful but futile sense to living. The manic “Nil” sounds like a fake smile being flashed before the existential “Sad Middle” scrolls through a variety of rhythms amid the lonely synth line driving the song. This type of push-pull throughout the album creates ambivalent moments where one\'s never sure where Thorburn is aiming. “Hushed Tones,” “Shotgun Vision,\" and “Of Corpse” are dark epiphanies accompanied by melodies and arrangements that differ greatly from verse to chorus to bridge. Try keeping up.

Nick Thorburn's off-kilter indie rock project returns with their fifth album, Ski Mask. The latest is far less raw than 2012's A Sleep & a Forgetting, and is more fleshed out instrumentally, with sounds that touch on calypso and vaudeville.

Confessional, semi-ironic lyrics have always been the backbone of Nick Thorburn’s catalog.

Islands' previous album, 2012's A Sleep and A Forgetting, was the most honest and direct album Nick Thorburn had yet made.

Canadian indie outfit Islands have impressive heritage. Frontman Nick Thorburn was lead singer with the Unicorns, a blistering jewel in the famed early 2000s Montreal scene that released three stunning albums in two years. Thorburn’s work since then has been consistently pleasant, without ever managing to generate the same levels of excitement as what went before.

A Sleep and a Forgetting, the last record from Islands, the Montreal indie-pop outfit headed by Nick Thorburn, was a mature, melodic, and heartfelt breakup...

Julie Colero reviews Islands' upcoming album "Ski Mask", which drops tomorrow on Nick Thorburn's own Manqué label. Islands tour North America this fall.