ISLANDS
Return to the Sea
Equator
· A triumphant return from ex-Unicorns Nick Diamonds and Jaime Tambour.
The Unicorns popped up out of nowhere, the splendid debut album Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone? under their arms, and then disappeared in a haze of bitter infighting and unfulfilled promise. While Alden Ginger’s out of the picture, Nick Diamonds and J’aime Tambour’s return as Islands treads the same waters with renewed focus.
It’s hard following up the likes of opener "Swans (Life After Death)," a nine-and-a-half minute epic story about travelling inside the stomach of a whale, Diamonds first cooing, "I woke up thirsty the day I died," then shouting, "I’m thankful for my life" at the song’s climax. There’s no trees quite so tall, but "Don’t Call Me Whitney, Bobby" gives in entirely to Diamonds’ Paul Simon fixation, and "Volcanoes" puts The Arcade Fire’s string section to good work. Islands’ flirtation with calypso works (check "Jogging Gorgeous Summer" for the best example), while their brief dalliance with hip hop (before Islands there was Th’ Corn Gangg, who return on "Where There’s a Will There’s a Whalebone") doesn’t, but at least Islands prove themselves willing to try just about anything.
The greatest thing about the Unicorns, next to their undeniable melodies, was in their self-propagated enigmatic personality and creativity, something Islands have taken full care in carrying forth with them. Consider it fitting, then, that the land masses pictured on the cover of Islands’ first outing are icebergs – the biggest parts of which remain under water yet to be discovered.
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