Islands: Vapours

Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste
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 contrast that made that atypical singing voice sing—and kept those words from weighing too heavy—was gone and, along with it, Thorburn’s longtime musical partner Jamie Thompson. But the erstwhile Islander rejoined the archipelago for the band’s third LP, Vapours, and the results are—thankfully—as goofily serious as the album cover would suggest: Thorburn looking purse-lipped and dour behind a glammy, pinkish-hued haze.