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: \/ F A N G \ / : '
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\ / presents \ / .
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: Artist......: Islands
: Album.......: Islomania :
: Label.......: Royal Mountain Records .. .:.. .
Genre.......: Indie :
Catnr.......: RMR-135-2 .
' Source......: CD ,
; Rip.date....: 2021-06-10
Str.date....: 2021-06-11
Quality.....: 271kbps/44.1kHz/Joint Stereo . :..
.:. Url.........: http://www.islandsareforever.com '
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\ / # title time \ /
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1. Islomania 3:49
2. (We Like To Do It) With the Lights On 3:45
3. Carpenter 3:19
4. Closed Captioning 3:46
5. Set The Fairlight 5:47
6. A Passionate Age 4:44
7. Natural Law Party 3:30
8. Never Let You Down 4:33
9. Marble 4:35
10. Gore 3:30
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\ / ________ Runtime 41:18
,\ /... . . .... .... \ / ' Size 84.21 ______
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: Release Notes: \/ , \/ ,
' '
,: At the end of 2016, after ten years and seven albums, Nick :,
: Thorburn quietly decided to put an end to Islands and retire :
:' from music. There was no announcement or farewell, only two ':
,: shows at Webster Hall in New York and the Hollywood Forever :,
: Cemetery in Los Angeles to commemorate the tenth anniversary of :
:' the bandÆs widely adored debut album Return to the Sea. ôThis ':
,: seemed like a perfect time to put a cap on things and close out :,
: the circle,ö Thorburn says. He switched focus, selling and :
:' producing a pilot television script, creating a graphic novel ':
,: with preeminent comics publisher Fantagraphics, and scoring a :,
: few films and the occasional BBC radio show. :
:' ':
,: ThorburnÆs years-long leave of absence resulted in a kind of :,
: rock and roll Rumspringa, with Nick unable to shake the bug for :
:' making records. After a sudden burst of creativity from a few ':
,: weeks of working in his kitchen studio, Thorburn had written :,
: dozens and dozens of songs informed by everything from late-70s :
:' avant-disco to Thea LimÆs time-travel novel An Ocean of ':
,: Minutes, and would write dozens more over the next year and a :,
: half, almost all with a clear focus on rhythm and groove. :
:' ':
,: Thorburn decided that if he was going to make another Islands :,
: record, heÆd do it without a deadline. He also wanted to work :
:' with outside producers, which would be his first time since ':
,: 2009Æs Vapours. He reached out to that albumÆs producer, Chris :,
: Coady (Beach House, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) , and asked Islands :
:' drummer Adam Halferty and guitarist Geordie Gordon to join him ':
,: in a recording session at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles. :,
: :
:' ôAt the time I still wasnÆt sure what this new music was going ':
,: to be, or if coming back to Islands even made any sense,ö says :,
: Thorburn. ôBut once we started playing, it quickly became clear :
:' this would be the next Islands album.ö ':
,: :,
: Five years after Islands went dormant, Nick resurrected the :
:' band, who reemerge this year with their 8th album, Islomania. ':
,: More than two years in the making, Islomania is a culmination of :,
: things Thorburn learned from the intervening period and all the :
:' things heÆd accomplished during the bandÆs initial ten year ':
,: run. :,
: :
:' That initial session at Sunset Sound also featured Mike Stroud ':
,: (RATATAT) on guitar, who then invited Thorburn to his studio in :,
: the Catskills, where they worked on another song (ôA Passionate :
:' Ageö). With Islands bassist Evan Gordon soon brought into the ':
,: fold, Islomania slowly came to life over the coming year, with :,
: more sessions in LA involving producer Patrick Ford (Tanlines, :
:' !!!) and Coady. When the songs had been sufficiently finessed, ':
,: they brought on John Congleton (Sharon Van Etten, St. Vincent) :,
: to mix and Joe LaPorta (Vampire Weekend, David Bowie) to :
:' master. ':
,: :,
: ôI 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,ö says Thorburn, noting that the bandÆs :,
: simultaneously released 2016 albums Taste and Should I Remain :
:' Here at Sea? were completely recorded in a three-week span. ':
,: Through this unhurried process, Islands found an entirely new :,
: form for their idiosyncratic blend of art rock and synth-pop, :
:' ultimately arriving at their strongest record yet. ':
,: :,
: Over the course of ten groove-heavy songs, Islomania flits from :
:' the ridiculous to the sublime. On the surface, these songs are ':
,: all blissful hedonism, tracing the reckless abandon of a :,
: progressively wild Friday night. But pick at the scab and :
:' thereÆs a darkness. Themes of futility ':
,: :,
: and repetition (ôClosed Captioningö), a yearning for :
:' transcendence (ôNatural Law Partyö), a need for understanding ':
,: (ôA Passionate Ageö) and a deep desire for vulnerability and :,
: intimacy (ôWe Like to Do it With the Lights Onö) thread the :
:' album. ôTension and release exist throughout. Every song here ':
,: begins bottled up, but thereÆs always a cathartic release by the :,
: end. ThereÆs darkness and doubt in every crevice of this :
:' record, but thereÆs always a release,ö Thorburn says. ':
,: :,
: After kicking off with the albumÆs sweetly tropical title track, :
:' Islands intensify the mood with ôWe Like to Do It With The ':
,: Lights Onö: a dance song whose dreamy exuberance betrays a more :,
: profound message. ôI wanted this record to be a celebration of :
:' finding joy and pleasure in life,ö says Thorburn. ôI think ':
,: itÆs important to remember that, despite the darkness and :,
: conflict and pain, thereÆs still goodness in the world.ö :
:' ':
,: ThorburnÆs distinct brand of marrying upbeat and urgent melodies :,
: with comically dark lyrics remain intact, with songs like :
:' ôClosed Captioningö interweaving jagged horn arrangements with ':
,: grim lyrics about the end of the world. ôThat one came from :,
: having to turn on closed captioning while watching a æprestigeÆ :
:' TV show because the style of acting nowadays seems to be ':
,: everyone mumbling,ö Thorburn says. ôI thought the concept of :,
: closed captioning was a fairly decent metaphor for the divisive :
:' nature of this country, and the inability to understand one ':
,: another.ö The Stroud-produced track ôA Passionate Ageö rides the :,
: line between dizzy and chilling in its vocoder-warped :
:' reflection on modern lifeÆs endless chatter. And on ôNever Let ':
,: You Downö, Islands present one of IslomaniaÆs most :,
: tender-hearted tracks, a radiant yet mournful piece of :
:' synth-pop. ôThe album is all about transcending- In the ':
,: political, the spiritual, the emotional and the physical :,
: sense,ö Thorburn says. ôAfter Natural Law Partyö - which :
:' features an interpolation of Arthur RussellÆs early disco ':
,: outfit Loose Joints and their song Tell You (Today)- :,
: ôculminates in a plea to æset my body freeÆ, transcendence is :
:' achieved. Never Let You Down serves as the beginning of a come ':
,: down, though. The drugs have worn off, the doubt is creeping :,
: in, but you push on, try to keep the party going. ItÆs a bit of :
:' a reckoning, or a gradual return to earth- with hopefully a ':
,: little enlightenment in tact. ThereÆs a failed love song in :,
: there, too- this hopeless idea that you can always be there for :
:' someone, but both the narrator and the subject know itÆs a ':
,: lie, though they choose to believe it,ö Thorburn says. :,
: :
:' By the time Islomania closes out with ôGoreö - a song Thorburn ':
,: synopsizes as ôthe bloom coming off the roseö- the spirit has :,
: returned to the body, descended. All thatÆs left now is death. :
:' And this is ThorburnÆs party record!! Despite the heaviness, ':
,: the delicately articulated moods, and the moments of melancholy :,
: and unease, the album sustains a heady effervescence thatÆs :
:' undeniably tied to the spirit of its creation. ôThis record is ':
,: way more playful than I usually allow myself to be, or have :,
: allowed myself to be in the last 15 years of making music with :
:' Islands,ö says Thorburn. ôIt made me remember why I got into ':
,: this in the first place. I want everything to have meaning and :,
: intention, but I also want to leave room to get a little lost. I :
:' want the listener to feel enchanted by the music, and I think ':
,: we absolutely achieved that with this one. This is the best :,
: album IÆve ever made, and I donÆt think it would have been :
:' possible without leaving it all behind.ö ':
: '
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\ / Shout out to all our homies from: \ /
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\ / iPC BOSS HiT2000 1way UKi i8 RNS \ /
\ / RAGEMP3 MANDY DV8 pLAN9 BUTT \ /
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