Islands, 'Arm's Way' (Anti-)
Canadian raconteur sees life in the face of death.
By Spencer Kornhaber 06.04.08 10:50 AM
A lot of indie-pop bands catch flak for making sickly-sweet songs, but Islands have a different vice: the sweetly sick. Since the early 2000s, Nick Thorburn has been penning morbidly sunny-sounding anthems -- first as a member of the brilliant broken-pop trio The Unicorns, then on Islands’ apocalyptically catchy 2006 debut, Return to the Sea. But with this follow-up, Thorburn eclipses his past work in terms of gore per minute: From hemorrhages to hangings, nearly every track highlights some terrible way to die.
Luckily, there’s a method to his misanthropy. Arm’s Way is an album of quick changes, rescues, and escapes, equating the shock of death with the shock of realizing that you’re alive: On “Abominable Snow,” Thorburn meets a yeti and then observes, dumbfounded and ecstatic, “yet I didn’t die.” Omnivorous genre-picking -- metal riffs on “The Arm,” new-wave rhythms on “Creeper” -- and jubilant folk-boogie break-downs are the soundtrack to Thorburn’s epiphanies. While Return to the Sea achieved a sort of sparkling infectiousness, Arm’s Way strives for -- and often reaches -- prog grandeur.
A slew of languid, lengthy tracks at the album’s center almost kill the buzz. But whenever it seems that Islands are losing you, Arm’s Way coughs up a moment so beautiful it might make your heart swell and burst into a bloody, disgusting mess. Thorburn would love nothing more.
islands put themselves in harm's way with a couple of songs on their new album that are far too drawn out and aurally unappealing.