Islands Take The Long Road Back

Islands haven't been away for long, but it feels too long for them.

The group finished Arm's Way, the follow-up to Return To The Sea, in early 2007. But it took some legal wrangling with former label Equator to get it out through Anti- this week.

The band's sophomore effort is their first true full-ensemble album. Where Return To The Sea featured Nick Thorburn, former drummer Jamie Thompson and a cast of guest players, Arm's Way features the band that toured the debut around the world.

It's a much tighter and more musically expansive effort that equally and effectively showcases all of Islands' myriad parts. ChartAttack caught up with Thorburn when the band stopped in Toronto last month to tape a set for the Beautiful Noise concert series, which will air this summer on Sun TV.

ChartAttack: How did Arm's Way come together?
Nick Thorburn: I think it's a pretty standard scenario, when a band has a collection of songs, the common thing to with a collection of songs was — in not too long it won't be — to make a record, a recording of the material. And we had a bit of trouble figuring out how to do that because we had a situation where we were trying to switch labels. And it was kind of a struggle. We finished the record a year ago. We could have had it out last fall if we had a label that was capable of doing it.

How did you end up on Anti-?
We ended up there through a friend of mine who does our digital stuff in the U.S. His name is Daddy Kev, and he's also a DJ out of L.A. He's a cool guy and we made a little side record together called Reefer that I don't think is ever going to come out. But whatever, I went to Hawaii. It was awesome. It's one of those records where we're both so busy we probably won't get around to finishing it off. Anyway, he put me in touch with Andy [Kaulkin], who runs Anti-, and that was March of 2007. And ever since then, we've been slowly trying to move over to Anti-/Epitaph. It had been verbally a done deal for 13 months and it was just a matter of untangling ourselves from an unhealthy and malfeasant situation.

They've got a pretty stacked roster. Was it a dream label for Islands to end up on?
Yeah, it was like a dream label. I'd thought about it and mentioned it to Kev, and he was like, "You know, I'm friends with Andy, we can make this happen." He put me in touch and that was it. I didn't even think it was something that was possible. I didn't expect it to happen. But Andy really took to the music. We hadn't even made the record at that point. He just got behind it right away and couldn't do anything, like intervene, other than eventually settling the termination of the contract, but couldn't intervene to facilitate the record. So it was a bit of a struggle. We were running out of money and we actually had to get some money from Equator, which was owed to us, but it complicated things immensely. Rough Trade ponied up some cash. We made it as cheap as possible, but I think we really stepped up the production value and the arrangements.

It's weird to hear that because the production sounds so rich on the album.
It's kind of mental that we did it, because it's not simple, straight-ahead arrangements. But we pretty much did everything live off the floor, very minimal overdubs. Then I went to Seattle to Ryan Hadlock's studio to do vocals, and Aaron [Harris, drummer] came too. It was a very pleasant experience, even though we were amidst a real shithouse. We were in the middle of turmoil and conflict, but maybe that fueled it. There's a lot of catharsis. It's like a primal scream.

With so much time off between when Arm's Way was finished to the release, have you written much in the interim?
Yeah, I've got about 40 songs, 41 songs. But who knows, I've got different projects now, so I'm trying to fit them all in certain places. Like, obviously Th' Corn Gangg thing, I don't write songs for that. Jamie and I just get together and make beats. I'll play guitar, he'll play drums, and it's all very improvised. But with Human Highway, the record with Jim Guthrie, I take that into consideration now because I love that project, working with Jim.

So Th' Corn Gangg is still an ongoing concern?
It is. We've got about a dozen instrumentals, and we've been trying to corral the rap community. We have a list of people who have kind of committed to being involved, which is not saying a lot in the rap community. To get someone's verbal consideration doesn't mean much. But we've got some cool people who have agreed in some form or another to be a part of it. So I think that could be really exciting, too. But Jamie and I, he lives in L.A. and I live in New York, so we don't see each other much.

Why did you end up leaving Montreal for New York?
It was a personal choice. It was for personal reasons. But I like it there. I like New York. Montreal was sort of, I never really felt like I fit in there as an anglo who didn't speak French. I tried, but there was never really time to get a grasp. I felt really uncomfortable. I felt like a real outsider there, which can motivate and inspire. It's cold, too — really cold.

Here are Islands' Canadian dates:

May 29 Toronto, ON @ The Phoenix Concert Theatre
May 30 London, ON @ Call The Office
May 31 Waterloo, ON @ Starlight
June 5 Winnipeg, MB @ West End Cultural Centre
June 6 Saskatoon, SK @ Amigo's
June 7 Edmonton, AB @ The Starlite Room
June 8 Calgary, AB @ The Warehouse
June 10 Vancouver, BC @ Plaza Club