‘We’re kind of workhorses or machines. Machines meant to please you’ — Islands mastermind Nick Thorburn finally reveals what fans have suspected all along: he’s secretly a replicant
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If there’s one common thread shared by the most memorable pop albums, it’s a combination of musical chops and sharp-wittedness. Clumsy poetry can make the smoothest of jams fall flat, and without epic fanfare, what good is a pithy rejoinder? It’s not a surprising fact, but it’s one that members of Montreal’s Islands are exceedingly aware of. This is a group of young, talented musicians who work from an incredibly varied palette, exploring a wide range of interesting and subversive themes and embracing unconventional instrumentation like the violin and the baritone sax. On their recently released sophomore album, Arm’s Way, they cycle through dozens of musical winks and lyrical puns. The band even lifts an entire passage from The Who’s “A Quick One, While He’s Away,” cleverly recasting it in the album’s prevailing theme of bodily dismemberment.
“It kind of goes along with our whole MO,” says Islands front man Nick Thorburn, formerly known as Nick Diamonds, “[which is] to be making pop music and to be engaged in a dialogue with the entire history of pop music. We’re referencing a lot of songs from the past: there’s the Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop, the Temptations. There are lots of responses to older music. It’s how we engage ourselves.”
Being able to pick out prominent primary sources is hardly new turf for Islands fans. While the new album picks and chooses from a smorgasbord of notable touchstones, their debut offering, Return to the Sea, drew heavily from the musical style of Paul Simon’s Graceland. Fusing accessible melodies with traditional African rhythms, Return managed to pay respect to a classic without veering too close to rip-off territory.
“We really were inspired by [Simon’s] sense of discovery and his attempt to branch out creatively and try something new and be excited about music again,” says the charismatic lyricist. “This time around, there’s no one over-arching influence. It’s just a culmination of all sorts of musical inspirations. There are classical references, and there’s avant-garde stuff that we’re inspired by, and there’s the pop music and all that stuff. We’re all coming at it from different places.”
Today’s Islands are a much different group than when the band formed a few years ago. Prior to his current station, Thorburn was a member of the much-lauded Montreal pop trio The Unicorns, along with Islands co-founder Jaime Thompson. Following a rapid rise to international acclaim for their experimental masterpiece Who Will Cut Our Hair When We’re Gone?, The Unicorns toured themselves into a state of exhaustion and increasing tension, leading to their acrimonious breakup. When Islands rose from the ashes, the band struggled with constant comparisons to Thorburn and Thompson’s past lives, with some critics suggesting that the new group’s lack of intensity and volatility translated into a less creative, less memorable version of The Unicorns. Things went from bad to worse last year when fans were shocked to learn of Thompson’s abrupt decision to leave Islands and focus on his private life.
“Jaime’s departure was tough to deal with at the time,” recalls Thorburn, “but looking back, I have a bit of perspective on things, and I think it worked out in everybody’s favour. It made me stronger as a songwriter, and it was really nice to have him there to guide me through the beginning of Islands and the end of The Unicorns. It was really valuable support that he provided, and the first record that we made together was really special.”
With the release of Arm’s Way, it looks as though Islands’ growing pains have come to an end. The touring band from the latter days of Return to the Sea’s lifespan has become the core group, and the new album finds six well-practised musicians coalescing almost perfectly. While this brings an end to Return’s guest appearances from pillars of the Canadian indie scene (Royal City’s Jim Guthrie, say, or members of Arcade Fire), the result is a tighter, more refined sound.
“This time around, instead of it being a friend coming and hearing the song once and then laying down the arrangement, we spent months and months and months finessing and fine-tuning every little note that was going into it,” Thorburn says. “I think that’s where the co-ordination and the musicianship shine — from all the effort that’s been put into it.... It’s all very deliberate. No room for error or improvisation, really. We’re kind of workhorses or machines. Machines meant to please you.”
Indeed, the Islands live show does possess something of a robotic quality, with members delivering near note-for-note reproductions of their studio work. This dedication hasn’t gone unnoticed — the band recently found a home on ANTI-, the smaller, more eclectic sister label of Epitaph Records. Clearly, Thorburn is pleased with the new arrangement, describing it as “more than just one rung on a ladder… more like an entire ladder and then some,” but getting a raise hasn’t changed his attitude towards the music industry, which remains down-to-earth and fan-focused. When asked how he feels about Arm’s Way leaking to the Internet a few weeks early, the vocalist comes off like a savvy industry player, well aware of the many forces at work in the new economy.
“I’m neither annoyed nor elated,” is his measured response. “I’m aware of the situation, and the current generation of listeners and how they get their music. People want music more than they’ve ever wanted music before, and they’re finding faster, easier ways to get it. If the music industry at large can’t catch up with that, then there’s no one to blame but ourselves. People want the music, and they’re going to find a way to get it, and I appreciate that.”
That said, the band offers at least one major incentive to those willing to shell out for a hard copy, in addition to the associated warm fuzzies of buying music legally. Arm’s Way’s cover is an overwhelming collage of images: two cherubic girls awkwardly hugging under arched hands, flanked by a car, some landscapes and a diver, all within what appears to be a ripped-open wound.
“I stumbled across [the artist’s] work, and I just really loved it,” recalls Thorburn. “It was all these explosions and these bodies and rib cages that were blowing up. I saw it and realized this was the perfect thing for the record, the destruction of the body, which is kind of what the whole thing is about. I think the outcome is mind-melting: People can get a hold of the best-quality drugs and just listen to the record and stare at the cover and see what happens.”
One of the biggest changes on the new Islands record is a much more thoughtful use of strings. Fast Forward had a chance to catch up with Islands violinist Alex Chow to discuss their increased place in the pop world.
How did you end up playing in Islands?
I started playing violin when I was four, and I just graduated from McGill in classical performance. From my classical music background, I was able to integrate myself into different styles and techniques. In that respect, it’s like drumming, where once you learn jazz style, that’s pretty much all you need to know. So, I decided to take a chance toying with Islands, and so far it’s been an incredible experience.
I’m curious about the aspect of showmanship. Was it tough to break any classical performance habits?
Classical performance has the buttoned-down, stand there, don’t even look at the audience routine. Once, a teacher told me that if you look at the audience while in an exam, you fail. That’s insane. With what we’re doing now, if we don’t look at the audience during a show, we’re not really connecting with them. So performance-wise, they’re polar opposites.
You joined up with Islands after Return to the Sea was recorded. Did you find it difficult to make the arrangements from that album your own?
I’m going to respect what Sarah [Neufeld of Arcade Fire and Bell Orchestre] did with the songs, but I’ll definitely reinterpret the way it’s played live. Obviously, I’m going to put a little flair in there that I find might sound cooler. She never really played a show with Islands, so it’s an aspect that Sebastian [Chow, Islands’ other violinist] and I have brought, through our own tastes and classical background, to the shows. And to the new album as well.
The new songs are really tight and well-orchestrated. Does that leave you much wiggle room to play around with the music?
We could, but we want to respect what we already put into the songs and play them the way they were originally arranged. There’s always room for improvisation, especially since our fingers are so magically fucking fast — we can do whatever we want! Seriously though, even though we arranged all the string parts, we can still play around with what we have to develop songs to whole new levels.
