There is a history here, a Montreal history that I don’t understand. The accolades that have pushed Island’s second disc onto the shelves of every major record retailer must be rooted in the friendships the band enjoys within the tightly knit music community of Montreal. With the support of members and former members of Arcade Fire, The Unicorns, and Wolf Parade, Islands recorded and released their debut Return to the Sea. Now they have come at us again hoping that some of that earned cachet and the fostered connections will provide a favorable lens through which to judge their newest effort. I just don’t have it in me to see it their way.
Making a playlist of my favorite Canadian bands would take hours, but I know that Islands probably would not be on the list. There are very few things I like less than an album, which shows all the signs of greatness, is striped of its pretty packaging and exposed as a fraud. I loved the psychedelic loving images from the cover of Arm’s Way, framed by what looks to be a hacked open chest cavity. The pink flesh color reveals a stylized Eden complete with a mushroom cloud and burning car, the outer edges of which, when looked at closely, reveal a wound composed of suggestive yet ambiguous pink parts. But even when you tear away that cellophane wrapping, the disc never looses its status as a packaged product.
Islands’ style is an amalgamation of everything pop. It is hard to deny their song writing abilities. Nicholas Thorburn’s, former vocalist of The Unicorns, brings tons of energy and talent to Islands. The song Abominable Snow, written prior to the formation of Islands, is a great tune with dense textures that allow the sounds of every instrument- guitar, violin, keys- to ebb and flow in volume. Kids Don’t Know Shit is a passionate track that lyrically walks the balance beam between sarcasm and sincere judgment of the supposedly oblivious youth. There are many elements of Arm’s Way that naturally lend it to a favorable review.
The record’s flaws do not come from the writing aspect, although I might suggest that many if not most of the lyrics are uninteresting. No, Islands’ problem comes in the production and conceptualization of Arm’s Way. The maturity that they sought to express ended up painting their project with a veneer of contrivances, caricaturing a style that they and others popularized previously. Songs like The Arm fail to reach the level of epic depth that they overtly are attempting. You do not achieve anything simply by adding a violin run here and there. J’Aime Vous Voire Quitter begins well conceived, but the chorus jolts the listener from good to poor taste before it pulls another punch to the senses when it erupts into La Bamba.
For all it lacks, especially in the first half of the record, Arm’s Way still has enough buoyancy to make a listen worth while. Vertigo closes well. Although it plays lyrically with the often appealed to image of being picked up just to fall down again, the somber vocal melody and full guitar orchestration generate genuine moments of grandeur. But the excellence of this track does much to remind the listener of how little the record offered in its introduction. Islands may be forever but cachet can be exhausted like any other currency.
In order to tie up some loose ends I thought I’d look back to 2007 when married couple Dan Boeckner, of Wolf Parade, and writer Alexei Perry released Plague Park under the moniker Handsome Furs. The band, named for a short story penned by Alexi, toured Europe before Plague Park was even complete. Granted, the Montreal duo had plenty of help in the label and marketing department from their association with Wolf Parade, benefiting from their status as a major buzz band of ’06 and ’07. The signs warning of Handsome Furs potential flaws were certainly imposing. Another successfully crafted record by a husband/wife team only a couple years after Apologies to Queen Mary? Let me guess, guitar riffs backed by synthesized drum sequences. Lay your doubts to rest, for someone who was never quite interested in the Wolf Parade bandwagon, this record will impress. I have had the disc for a while now, but it has only come to my attention as of late that Plague Park should have someone championing it for what it is, a great fucking record.
Those elements beyond guitar and beat machine that elevate Handsome Furs above their initial humdrum grow in your bones the more you listen. What you want to distrust becomes clever and interesting. The sequences become ingenious and you feel cheated because you’ll never get to be the one who thought of it. Isn’t that one of the best compliments you can give; distain because some band claims another inch of creativity from a nearly exhausted cerebral fabric? Boeckner’s voice is intensely woeful, and the lyrics are beautiful. They shuttle from dirge to digital, expending high amounts of energy but quick to slow and return to contemplation. There is never the sinfulness of Eagle Seagull or the synthetic dexterity of Xiu Xiu, but Handsome Furs deals a heavy blow to snobbish ears. Plague Park is an urban memory of rural roots; it is an exhalation of intimate song-craft; it is a great fucking record.
Given the breadth of contributors, it is difficult to describe the myriad of styles that reform Martin’s work. What makes this record so excellent is the consistency provided by the base that Jeff Martin has constructed. While nearly every track is laden with electronic beats and celestial atmospherics, the meat of the music is rooted in the organic, natural sounds of the acoustic guitar, banjo, piano, mandolin, violin, and cello. Indeed, most of the tracks are instrumental, flowing into the limbo that is post-rock. A few songs include Jeff Martin’s voice which has a surprising smoky quality that contrasts sharply with the velour texture of the music.
The most outstanding track off the Spoons remix record is its first. Shuttlecock is energetic, voluminous, and expansive. It comes to us remixed by Bristol’s Minotaur Shock from 4AD. The song begins with a beautiful interplay of strings and xylophone, which is then mixed with a syncopated acoustic guitar riff, a clarinet, and brass. As Shuttlecock accelerates and builds, it perfectly exemplifies the beauty that electronic/organic fusion achieves; the fast paced beats layer the spaces between the chimes of a dozen other rhythms; it increases in velocity, but remains measured and deliberate. This track is simply ridiculous.
Spoons: RCI has many other gems as well. Strange for a Tuner by Chequerboard is sequenced perfectly. Balancing Act by Decal has a latent retro 80s structure that becomes fully born as the track concludes. Some tracks lack many of the electronic elements that are so prevalent throughout the record. Plays Music by Mice Parade and the impassioned Augustine by the Dublin Guitar Quartet are both gorgeous instrumentals. For those of you who love multi-instrumentalists like Sufjan Stevens and Tortoise, the beats of the Album Leaf, or even if you are a listener of the more ambient songs from God Speed You Black Emperor, Spoons: A Collection of Remixes, Collaborations, and Interpretations is a perfect addition to an ever growing and diversifying, nameless genre that flees moment to moment and movement to movement, renegotiating our expectations of complexity and simplicity, tonal dialectics and the subtlety of repetition.
Tokyo Police Club
Elephant Shell
April 22nd 2008
Saddle Creek
Tokyo Police Club‘s new album, Elephant Shell, is everything but the shot of adrenaline that was the band’s explosive debut, A Lesson in Crime.
We were so impressed with A Lesson In Crime, a 6-song EP released about two years ago, that we wanted more of the same. An album about robots taking over Earth, A Lesson In Crime begins with this warison call: “Operator, get me the President of the World!” From there, the listener becomes lost in a 16-minute maelstrom of grinding guitars and synthesized clapping.
Those things are present on Elephant Shell, but the volume has been turned down. The album features a calmer, almost restrained Tokyo Police Club, with front man and chief lyricist David Monks in a much more contemplative mood. “You and your soapy eyes called it off so late at night, but your hands and your heart and your head’s always right,” Monks sings on the song Juno. The album is a slapdash collection of childhood memories. It’s all sprained ankles, kickball games and awkward romantic encounters on schoolyard jungle gyms.
The lyrics are smart; there’s no doubting that. Monks quips on Listen to the Math, “If I am the joke, then you’re the punch line.” We’re just concerned he and his band mates are growing up too fast. It’s not just the lyrics either. The somber sound of a cello heard on the ballad The Harrowing Adventures Of…– while perfect for the song – seems out of character for a group that describes itself on its My Space page as a “swift kick in the pants followed by a raucous dance party.”
Nevertheless, Elephant Shell gets a passing grade. But here’s to hoping Tokyo Police Club shapes up and stops acting their age on the next album.
Other Music
A Lesson in Crime EP- 2006
Smith EP- 2007
Tour
May 12 2008 8:00P @ The Starlite Room Edmonton, Alberta
May 14 2008 8:00P @ The Habitat (SOLD OUT) Kelowna, British Columbia
May 15 2008 8:00P @ Plaza Club Vancouver, British Columbia
May 16 2008 8:00P @ Plaza Club Vancouver, British Columbia
May 17 2008 8:00P @ Sugar Nightclub Victoria, British Columbia
May 18 2008 8:00P @ Neumos Seattle, Washington
May 19 2008 8:00P @ Hawthorne Theatre Portland, Oregon
May 22 2008 8:00P @ Bluebird Theatre Denver, Colorado
May 23 2008 8:00P @ Slowdown Omaha, Nebraska
May 29 2008 8:00P @ Barfly Cambridge
May 30 2008 8:00P @ Bodega Nottingham
May 31 2008 8:00P @ Cockpit Leeds
Jun 1 2008 8:00P @ Night & Day Manchester
Jun 3 2008 8:00P @ Barfly Birmingham
Jun 5 2008 8:00P @ Le Bontanique Brussels
Jun 6 2008 8:00P @ Rock Am Ring Nurburgring
Jun 7 2008 8:00P @ Rock Im Park Zeppelinfeld
Jun 8 2008 8:00P @ La Maroquinerie Paris
Jun 10 2008 8:00P @ King Tuts Glasglow
Jun 11 2008 8:00P @ Other Rooms Newcastle
Jun 12 2008 8:00P @ Academy Oxford
Jun 13 2008 8:00P @ Marquee Hertford
Jun 16 20088:00P @ Digital Brighton
Jun 17 2008 8:00P @ Thekla Bristol
Jun 18 2008 8:00P @ Scala London
Jul 20 2008 8:00P @ Rogers Picnic Toronto, Ontario
Sep 14 2008 12:00P @ Monolith Festival Red Rocks, Colorado
