:p

Islands hasn’t hit the infamous “sophomore slump” with Arm’s Way, their follow-up to 2006’s brilliant Return to the Sea. But with twelve songs clocking in at well over an hour in length, it’s a long listen. Only two songs are less than four minutes in length, and the rest are generally significantly longer.
The first track is “The Arm,” and it doesn’t fail as an introduction to the album. Islands has augmented its sound with string instruments that add an epic quality to the music, but it hasn’t abandoned its tropical vibe. On such tracks as “J’aime Vous Voire Quitter,” steel drums and other staples of the Caribbean make a significant appearance.
The album is significantly darker than the odyssey through a beach-filled afterlife that was Return to the Sea. Still, Islands’ lyrics haven’t lost their whimsical air, and Nick Thorburn’s voice hasn’t lost its airy versatility. Overall, it’s a good album with few mistakes. Probably four stars.

icarus and the undertaker

I. i'll throw my fists into the sky and bruise the clouds, split their ranks with thunder and catch the water they abandon to gravity. i'll break the sky with plotless ambition. i'm going to drive for hundreds of miles through the rain because i have to make some kind of progress. i'll tear apart the crease between mountain and sky with my bare hands and the birds can't stop me. i'll learn to fly to the edge of gravity so my fall will have real impact. i've actually been falling for some time now, but never from anyplace with a view.

II. i'll toss my face into the dirt and bruise my pride. i tried to dig to the center of the world but it didn't exist for me. i'll lie in my hole forever and the worms can't stop me. it's filling with rain and that's alright because i can't sink any deeper than where i am.