Vapours
After the relative darkness of Arm's Way, Islands welcomes back original member Jamie Thompson and makes a welcome return to the sound of their debut.
The last album from Montreal odd-pop ensemble Islands was a resoundingly unwelcome departure. Arm’s Way substituted proggy self-importance for the group’s winning musical playfulness, which served only to deepen the labyrinthine spiral begun by Nick Thorburn’s already metaphor-rich and death-obsessed lyrics. The…
On their previous album, Arm's Way, Islands inflated the sweet and quirky sound of their first album, Return to the Sea, into an unwieldy mess of overly ambitious arrangements and overcooked songwriting.
Islands - Vapours review: Nick Diamonds doesn't give a fuck what you think.