Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Why you no want to liff anymore?, April 14, 2006
It's hard being a Unicorns' fan. They galloped onto the scene sometime around 2003 from Montreal, with the album "Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone", luring unsuspecting listeners. Everyone was having fun. Everyone was looking forward to the unicorns flying high. But, before fans could find their saddles, before the dust had even set, the Unicorns went missing. Shortly after, it was confirmed The Unicorns had split up.
Nobody knows exactly why. Some sort of bickering? In any case, the devastation that followed is ever present. Thousands of wondering fans clogging up message boards. Lying siege to whatever b-side track they can find. It seems after all that was said and done... there are still plenty of people around to cut their hair.
So something is given to you and then taken away. Its hard to get over it. And now frontman Nick Diamonds and drummer J'aime Tambeur have managed to salvage what's left of the band. It seems these two had split up only to find they were floating in the same direction anyway. Washed ashore, bruised and battered the surviving members take refuge on an Island. Ironically, the final words "I woke up thirsty on an island in the sea" on the last track of Unicorn's album, was spot on. And in many ways Islands is a band that continues the legacy of The Unicorns. Picking up the pieces, but, somewhat wiser, more grown up, and a little more cautious.
Its difficult to pick this up and pretend the Unicorns never happened.
The band has lost much of its naivety, youthful invincibility, and with that, lost the charismatic care free (almost careless) antics. Its not as fun. Its lost its cartoonish rocky horror show spectacle. Short balloon-popping tracks, are traded for more tamed and expansive songs. Smoother in production and fuller in sound, brought about by an addition of 5 new members including guest stars from Wolf Parade and Arcade Fire.
It still retains many qualities, still structureless (for the most part no choruses!) and relying heavily on sweet hooks that often just come out of nowhere. In fact, there are cheeky references to the Unicorns, where there was once jelly there is now brittle bones. There are running themes like death, and still an inconsolable voice behind a crashing of colourful instruments.
Opening track 'Swans' is a mammoth drawn out arrangement, almost orchestrated but in a messy lo-fi way. The mumbling vocals sweep through and I cant help but smile.
'Humans' is an innocuous call to arms! Momentum builds, as a marching parade assembles, trumpets out, drums pounding. Gather the kids!
'Dont call me Whitney, Bobby' is a light hearted sugary sample. Palms waving and blue skies, but with their signature underlying despair.
'Rough Gem' is very unicorns... the bells, chimes and the swaying motion of the verses will have you whistling corruption!
The dark natured, 'Where there's a Will there's a Whalebone" has to be one of the best songs. Not because of the hip hop incorporated (which they have insisted on for so long) but for those darn catchy one liners. The building blocks that these men have founded their careers on. If anything the convoluted hip hop helps to contrast and bring out the hooks.
Following the well title 'Jogging Gorgeous Summer', 'Volcanoes' continues with an epic maze of striking tunes, building up into a sing along frenzy towards the end.
'If' tones the vibrations down, with a mellow thoughtful piece, whilst the closing track 'Ones' brings the story to an end with a somewhat uncharacteristic radioheadish soundscape edge.
"Return to Sea' could pass off as a solid follow up album, which is remarkable for a band who imploded because everyone wanted to do something different.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
totally fun summer orchestral pop, May 11, 2006
I was a little late in hearing The Unicorns, and about one week after I'd finally gotten their Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone? album, they broke up. They briefly reformed as Th' Corn Gangg, a side-project with MCs Busdriver and Subtitle, then once again split, with two-thirds of the band forging on as Islands.
Having heard the goofy, somewhat sloppy pop of The Unicorns, I was caught off guard a bit by how polished Return From The Sea sounds. There are still some buzzing analogue synths and occasionally silly vocals, but there are also plenty of horns, woodwinds, some strings, and an absolutely huge step in terms of songwriting and instrumentation. It doesn't take any longer than the first track for that to become apparent, as "Swans (Life After Death)" plays out for nearly ten minutes, opening with some strummy guitar and theremin-sounding keyboards before locking into a building verse and chorus that moves through several smooth progressions before dropping into a classic-rock inspired end section.
After the waltzing "Humans," the album hits what is easily the best section starting with "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby." Clocking in at only two and a half minutes, the song is easily one of the most catchy on the entire album, mixing slightly morbid lyrics with infectious instrumentation. "Rough Gem" does its best to top the former track, blasting gloriously giddy synth-pop punctuated by strings and reeds that hit in all the right places.
From there, the group unleashes the great "Where There's A Will, There's A Whalebone," a hip-hop influenced piece that starts out with swirling, almost proggy rock before locking into a great middle section that finds some Anticon-esque stream of consciousness vocals flowing before the track drops right back to where it started. Unafraid to mix styles even further, "Volcanoes" is a fun, country-inspired track that again finds the group rocking out for a nice ending. The album comes close to dragging a smidgen during the two slower tracks that close things out, but it's at least partially due to their following on the heels of the rollicking rest of the disc. Regardless, this album is a great deal of fun, and is among my favorites of the year so far.
(from almost cool music reviews)
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Where There's a Will, August 10, 2006
When Nick Diamond and J'iame Tambeur announced that The Unicorns were done, and they were starting a new project called Islands, I was outraged. Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone was one of my favorite CD's at the time, and I couldn't get enough of The Unicorns. It was like being cheated on a girlfriend who promised to elope, only to find she was cheating the whole time. It just felt wrong. I needed more Unicorns.
After a while of mourning, I finally heard the MP3's of Islands's Abominable Snow, and Flesh, and I thought they were fun, and Unicorn-like songs. Abomiable Snow being about an encounter with a yeti, and Flesh seemed to bring a sexy side to Diamond's writing. I was no longer mad at Unicorns.
Return to the Sea opens with an epic opener Swans(Life After Death), where Tambeur's drums are the main focal point to the song, changing moods after five minutes or so. In my mind it's one of the best opening tracks on a CD since Arcade Fire's Funeral.
Rough Gem is one of those songs that have the riff that will never leave your head, with keyboard, violins, and then a synth.
My favorite track on the CD is Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone, where there is one of the best raps I have ever heard. I really have no idea if it is any of the members of Unicorns or if it is a rapper from Anti-con or something, but it is phenomenal.
Another track that stands out for me is If, where there's a low swing, and a soft saxaphone solo that makes it one of the best moments in the CD.
Islands are my new Unicorns, and if I hear the news that Islands are breaking up, but moving onto some other project, I will no longer mourn, but be anticapited for more greatness.
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~ The Unicorns
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by Islands 
