Montreal indie vets Islands are gearing up to release their 10th album, What Occurs, on June 21 (pre-order), and band leader Nick Thorburn also says it will be their last. We’re premiering album closer “The End,” and here’s what Nick says about it:
The final song on the final album from Islands pulls no punches. It’s The End. We’ve reached the last stop on the station, and it’s time to disembark into the void. With this song, I wanted to look back on the hinge point in our lives when we begin to realize that our existence will not be forever. And when we reach the end, how will we reflect on the life we led? Are we satisfied with the choices we made? Did we have a positive impact on the world or did we do more harm than good.
It may be the end, but the song is a lively take on the kind of quirky, catchy indie pop that Nick has been making since his days in The Unicorns. Listen and watch the Justin Hantz-directed video below.
What Occurs was produced by the band and mixed by Colin Stewart (New Pornographers, Destroyer), and it’s the first Islands record to be made in Canada since their 2006 debut LP Return to the Sea. “For the first time, we went in cold,” Nick says. “I brought in the music and we learned it sitting together in the room. And then we hit record. Decisions had to be made very quickly.”
“With recording [this record] entirely in my home province of British Columbia, I wanted to tap into my Canadian forebears a little bit,” he adds. “It’s subtle, but I wanted to acknowledge the greats that came before me, like Destroyer, Teenage Head, Nash the Slash, Rufus Wainwright, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, and of course Neil Young, Joni Mitchell & Leonard Cohen.”
Tracklist
1. What Occurs
2. Drown A Fish
3. Tangerine
4. Arachnophobia
5. Move Some More
6. Boll Weevil
7. David Geffen’s Jackson Pollock
8. Hang
9. On The Internet
10. Sally Doesn’t Work Here Anymore
11. Talk Is Cheap
12. A Void
13. The End