Islands Share Second Single “Set The Fairlight” From Upcoming LP ‘Islomania’
After announcing their return to music last month with the indie dance single “(We Like To) Do It With The Lights On”, Montreal-based veterans Islands have followed up with their second single “Set The FairLight”. It’s the latest taste of new music, ahead of the June 11th release date for their first album in five years, Islomania.
“This was the last song made for the album, written and recorded during the pandemic,” frontman Nick Thorburn explains. “I suppose it’s vaguely about the feeling of anxiety and fear brought on by COVID. There’s separation (by a cemetery wall – grim!), isolation and the desire to reach out and touch someone. None of these themes were calculated or laboured over, though. Like most of my songwriting, I kind of let the subconscious take the wheel. I find I get to more interesting places when I’m not trying to steer the metaphors.“
The dark pop synth tones and underlying anxiousness are lifted by its glowing, Strokes-like dance-punk guitar riffs and Thorburn’s vocals. There’s an infectiousness to its hook and riff that has the energy of the 2013 Strokes album Comedown Machine, but with an urgency that is very 2021.
Written over the course of two years, Islomania is a fuelled by Thorburn’s urge to write with no hesitations or limitations, letting the music write itself essentially.
“I was determined to let the record breathe, let the process take as long as it needed. I wanted the freedom to rework the songs as we went along,” says Thorburn, noting that the band’s simultaneously released 2016 albums Taste and Should I Remain Here at Sea? were completely recorded in a three-week span. Ditching the time constraints and pressure-cooker songwriting style, the band’s forthcoming eighth album sits more comfortably in their discography.
Watch the new music video for “Set The Fairlight” below:
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