Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

Islands
Vapours
Anti Records
islandsareforever.com

“Islands in the stream … No one in-between ... How can we be wrong ... And we rely on each other, ah-ah ... From one lover to another, ah-ah!”

That’s the best part, the “ah-ah!” Montreal’s Islands has released its highly anticipated third record and from the first few spins, it’s pretty damn good. Not Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton or Barry Gibb good, but it sure has some sweet pop gems that’ll put you in the mood for lovin’. The album features the return of founding member Jamie Thompson, who left the group in 2006 stating that he was “not sure that being in a successful band is all that important to [him] anymore.” Islands continued during his absence, partaking in successful tours overseas and releasing its second full-length, Arm’s Way, in 2008.

Vapours consists of 12 carefully crafted eclectic drum machine-synth pop songs. It has less of an emphasis on layers and textures and more of a focus on rhythm and placement. At the same time, it remains consistent with the band’s previous catalogue of hook-driven indie dance-pop hits. No particular standouts but every track complementing the previous. Vapours shines.