Islands

Los Angeles - I couldn’t even tell you when or where I picked up Islands’ first album, Return to the Sea. According to my iTunes, it was July 2007, over a full year after its release.

Unbeknownst to me, the band had enjoyed much success prior to that. They had opened for Beck during part of his 2005 tour, and opened for Metric in 2006.

The band was a by-product of the breakup of experimental lo-fi indie rock band (AMG’s words, not mine) The Unicorns. Armed with that indie cred and the ties to ’90s collective Elephant 6, it was surprising I hadn’t heard of them earlier.

All that being said, I was an instant fan. The album was playful, irreverent, all over the map stylistically, and really really catchy.

A little Googleing informed me that J’aime Tambeur, part of the duo behind the group, had left the band. He wasn’t interested in being in a band anymore, they said. I chalked up their album as a one-hit wonder and they receded into the depths of my shuffling playlist.

So it was with lots of surprise that I noticed their name on the upcoming show listings here in LA. After all, this band was all but dead, wasn’t it?

No. No it wasn’t. Armed with a fresh new album, the band was coming through town, and come hell or high water, I would be at the show.

I certainly was a little off-put by the number of 16-and-under-year-olds there (since when do 13-year-old kids go to indie concerts? Man, I’m getting old). But what came as the biggest surprise to me was the look of the band. Their first album was as lighthearted and playful, and so very very far from pretentious, I pictured them more in line with the Flaming Lips or Beck than anything. What I saw on stage was something of a cross between a-ha, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, and MGMT. But don’t judge a book by its cover, right?

As the first couple songs went by, I asked myself if this was the same band I had fallen in love with, had obsessively gushed about to everyone who would (and wouldn’t) listen. What I was getting on stage was angsty ballads and space jams; definitely not what I came for.

The band was certainly technically adept. These are solid musicians, and while they could polish their showmanship a touch, they were certainly skillful enough to be engaging. And something must be said about Nick Diamonds (aka Nick Thornton) – the man has a voice like honey. Smooth and crisp, he’s got pipes of gold. So it makes it all the more painful to see how far they’ve evolved from their original selves. While they were once kindred spirits to the wild creativity of the likes of Of Montreal, they pulled an Arcade Fire and snuffed the spark that truly set them apart.

I hate to be that guy, the one who goes on and on about how much he loved that one band before they got all big and sold-out – the guy who’s at the record store all day, every day, giving unsolicited advice and silently judging you. So I’ll say this: while they put on a good show, and I only really disliked about two songs of their hour-and-a-half set, I really only loved four songs – three of which were from their first album.

In fact, those 12-to-16-year-olds were actually calling out some of the named of the tracks from their first album between songs (a request Nick granted – seemingly begrudgingly – twice).

The real culprit, I suspect, is the absence of J’aime Tambeur. While I know nothing of the inner-workings of the band, the bottom line is that it’s taken itself much more seriously. There’s a new emotional weight, this heaviness that goes in direct contrast with the original album’s content. On the first album, lighthearted, happy chords accompanied lyrics about the end of the world and dying stranded on an island. But now we’re hearing about broken hearts, lost love, and the usual fare.

It’s not that the band felt more innocent before. If anything, it was more jaded and cynical then, and therein lied their charm. Even the end of the world was something to celebrate. But they have since opened themselves to the realities of pain and heartbreak, and they take it all so seriously now!

Now I just want to mope around.

I left the show feeling unsatisfied. The encore consisted of two songs from their first album, and they verged on glorious. It was like break-up sex: You like it, it feels good, but by the time it’s over, you’ll realize you’ve both changed and can never again have what you had…

I still recommend the show, especially if you’re unfamiliar with the band. Again, they are very, very talented people. But for the fans of the first album, don’t go in expecting what they once were. They’re evolving in a new direction, one that might very well bring them more success (there are no doubt legions of potential fans out there who would love what they are now), but they’ve lost a little something magical.