Customer Reviews

Return to the Sea

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

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)

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.

Somewhere between "The Pixies" and "The Flaming Lips". Love the way they dont take themselves too seriously. Great little album if you are driving to the beach.

I bought this album, listened to it, then payed no attention to it, dismissing it. I came back to it a couple weeks later and really started getting into it. The songs are really good and you can't go wrong with "swans", "rough gem", and "volcanoes". I was skeptical that this album wouldn't be what I loved from the unicorns, but in many ways it's even better. Buy it.

The Unicorns turned out one album and one EP before shattering, reforming under a different name, shattering again, and scattering into other bands.

Hopefully the Isands will stick around longer than its mother band, because "Return to the Sea" is an outstanding debut album. Living up to their name, the Islands produce a flowing, fuzzy kind of pop, flavoured with calypso and dancehall music. Imagine Sufjan Stevens on a Caribbean kick, and you have the general idea.

It opens with soft flashes of synth, and some twangy guitar strings being plucked in a rather moody way. As "Swans (Life After Death)" kicks into its catchy folk melody, the eerie synth adds an otherworldly feeling. Nick Diamond croons a song about being reborn on a tropical island, and discovering the joys of being in this beautiful place.

Then they veer into the wonderfully expansive "Humans," which sounds like music-hall piano mixed with a brass band. After that, the band experiments with other kinds of island-folk sounds: bouncy guitar pop, dense folky psychedelica, exotic experimental music, breathless psychedelic rap, and sunny calypso-flavoured pop.

If you ever got shipwrecked on a Caribbean Island with an Elephant 6 band, it might sound -- and feel -- a little like the Islands' debut. Just about any combination of folk, calypso and psychedelica you can imagine will be on "Return to the Sea," done with such polish and confidence that it feels like a band that's been around forever.

Their music is controlled and tight, but with a sunny, giddy little pop edge. They effortlessly mishmash styles (classical and blippy keyboard?), mostly folky, also some dabbles in hip-hop and dense proggy electronica. The songs are seamless meshes of folky guitar, blippy keyboard, buzzing analog synth, swelling violin, kettle drums, and whatever else you can imagine.

Diamond has a rather odd voice -- a little off-key, but still quite pleasant. And he can trip out the slightly morbid lyrics ("Bones, bones/brittle little bones"), written with a flair for description. "Swans sung songs/Till the morning dawned on us/And the sun-smudged peach moon still hung loose..."

The Islands are a pretty new band, but they don't sound like it in their polished debut "Return to the Sea," which sounds like Sufjan Stevens jamming in the Caribbean.

Islands are forever. Seriously. This new venture by two former members of The Unicorns (Nick Diamonds and J'aime Tambeur) still has the same appeal that made The Unicorns so fun(insane lyrics mixed with great melodies) but for their debut album "Return to the Sea" African rhytmns and sounds (akin to seminal Paul Simon album Graceland) are put into this already great mix. Standout track is "Volcanoes," with its unique lyrics of a volcano melting Alaska, its layer upon layer of gorgeous mix of rock/pop, is a crowning achievement to the already great songs included.

...i'm just not feeling it yet. It's got a cool world sound kinda vibe, but if you're expecting the unicorns, don't. the only song that vaguely resembles unicorns is "Rough Gem". "Where there's a will (there's a whalebone)" is a great song, but the horrible canadian rap ruins the whole middle part. the first rapper sounds like he's struggling to get his ideas out, the second rapper's got a better flow; they both sound intelligent in what they're saying and i think the need to say it all ruins the flow of it. the music though, the music is brilliant. the opener is great, too. so again, don't expect the unicorns as i did or you will be slow to adapt. in closing, though this is good stuff, try to buy it at discount first before you drop full price for it.

p.s. the fact that i can't remember the second half of the album for this review says 2 things- one- there was nothing of significance worth remembering yet, and two- i'm not understanding this fully. maybe i'll edit my review in the future.

Having never heard the Unicorn's music, I was a little skeptical of buying this album, and after the first listen, I wasn't too impressed. A good two or 3 listens later, "Return to the Sea" clicked for me. It's catchy, concise, and a little wierd - three things that very much appeal to my musical sensibility.

Overall, Islands are probably the best Canadian "indie" band around, and this is one of the best albums of the year.

The indie-rock band Islands has the uncanny ability to surprise the listener one moment and sound comfortably familiar the next. The band consists of 2 members (singer,multi-instrumentalist, songwriter Nick Diamonds and drummer J'aime) of former cult fave The Unicorns. Return to the Sea sounds like a indie-rock mix tape. At times they sound like the Unicorns (Rough Gem). Elephant 6 influences surface throughout (Swans- Life After Death, Volcanoes) and the hidden last track (after five minutes of silence) recalls old Death Cab. This indie cocktail is a good thing: Guitars start and stop; keyboards bounce in and out; Paul Simon Graceland on drugs world-beats skip around; a genuine scratch your head moment when a quasi-rap derails "Where There's a Will". Return to the Sea gets bonus points for trying to shake things up. There's enough creativity here to rival the best of Arcade Fire and surpass copycat bands like wolf parade. If you like unconventional music with good melodies and unexpected twists and turns, this is a good choice. Diamonds proves adept at taking the listener on a spirited journey without losing his way.