Islands' Nick Thorburn Talks Arm's Way, Side Projects
"This is a record that requires concentration, and I think it's a good record to help someone stay sober. It's a record for alcoholics."

Photo by Alex Wagner

Islands make strange, scattershot pop music, but as we know well, even the weird ones have their day in the sun. After making a sizable splash with 2006's Return to the Sea, Islands will return May 20 with Arm’s Way, which they'll release through new label Anti-. Yesterday, we spoke with Islands leader Nick Thorburn (formerly known as Nick Diamonds) about the music of Arm’s Way, as well as his various side projects.

Pitchfork: The new album is called Arm's Way, which is yet another winking title from you guys. Care to explain?

NT: The band is based in Quebec. It's basically, French-Canadian people don't pronounce their H's. So, it's "Harm's Way" without the "H".

Pitchfork: Ha, that oughta clear up any confusion for the American audience, then.

NT: It's your standard play on words. It's just what you might call a pun of sorts. This is a record that's very physical and I just like the imagery that "arm" conjures. It's got a menacing tone to it. You can think of arms in the military sense, or arms in the spiritual sense, too. Like someone reaching out to lift you up to a higher place. There are all these connotations that are in conflict, and I think that's what drew me to this title.

Pitchfork: I haven't heard the record beyond "The Arm", but the press material I've got suggests it's "far more centered" than the last one, but also "sprawling" and "symphonic". Those seem like two competing notions.

NT: Well, the thing about progressive rock is that, you know, it requires a lot of focus. It requires one to be centered to perform it, but it also progresses throughout. Instead of repeating a part, it moves to a different part, and that's where the progression comes in. Like I said, this is a record that requires concentration, and I think it's a good record to help someone, you know, stay sober. It's that record for alcoholics. At least if you're going to be playing it, which we will be.

Pitchfork: So it's "progressive". Is this your Emerson, Lake and Palmer record?

NT: I mean, I'm speaking in the literal sense, but I think so were they. They just had the bad hair to contend with.

Pitchfork: So who's on this record? The last one was loaded with guests.

NT: This is the band. Not The Band. Not Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson, but the band that has been touring since after [founding member] J'Aime [Tambeur] quit and [drummer] Aaron [Harris] came in. This is the solid lineup that is definitely what Islands is now. It's really the first record where we've really come together. I think it really shows, too. You know? The arrangements are very deliberate and intentional. Everything could not be more intentional. It's a record of intent.

Pitchfork: Sounds like the more permanent setup ought to lend some cohesion to the proceedings. The last record was a little scattered at times, though that's part of its charm.

NT: Yeah, the last one, you know, we were still finding our footing. Finding what we were as a band. I don't think we've changed. I don't think our sound is streamlined. I think we're still exploring different sounds. I think in terms of the band, it's very solidified. I'm trying to think of the focus of the arrangements. It's way less off the cuff. The first record, we would invite people in, say "yeah, what do you think?", and give them free reign. This is reigned in.

Pitchfork: How long did it take you to record it?

NT: I think we did two weeks in Montreal, doing the basic tracking. Then I flew into Seattle to do the vocals with Sebastian [Chow] and Aaron, the other background vocals. We did another week-and-a-half there. All told, probably three weeks. We tried to do it really fast. We had everything mapped out, just wanted to commit it to tape. Really minimal overdubbing, really what we put to tape is what we would do in our rehearsal space. It's pretty much a representation, a document of what the band is.

Pitchfork: Is the finished product pretty close to how you envisioned it?

NT: Almost entirely. I went into the studio with the album title, with every song I knew we wanted to do, and practically the track listing, too. The sequence of the first track and the last track. Definitely, it's a very intentional record. There's no room for improvisation.

Pitchfork: The last time we spoke with you, you mentioned two albums you had in the works. Can we expect something else from you guys soon? Are you already looking ahead?

NT: I have like two albums' worth of Islands songs that I've already been working on. I'm already past these songs, and they won't be out for another three months. I could have a worse problem, I suppose. But, basically, the songs we're playing, we're playing catch up with the songs. The songs we've been performing, the last tour of the U.S., we did a lot of them. There are a couple that we haven't performed live.

Pitchfork: I know you're heading out on tour pretty soon. Is it going to be similar to the record and as well-conceived from the first moment on?

NT: Yeah, I think it's going to be the record, but things evolve, things mutate, and I'm sure we'll tweak things as we go on. We're not playing to a click [track] or anything. We're going to represent as best we can.

Pitchfork: You've always got lots of other projects in various stages of readiness. Can you give us an update on, say, the hip-hop project Th' Corn Gangg?

NT: Yeah. We were working on [the album] when I was in New York. Well, J'Amie was, too. We have more than a dozen beats made. We've got a lot of rappers we've been in touch with about working with. We're working on a Del the Funky Homosapien remix. We're trying to get that finished up by the end of the year, at least. That is the least developed of the projects, the least finished.

Pitchfork: And what about Juiced Elfers, the band you're in with J'Aime, Chris Taylor and Les Savy Fav's Syd Butler?

NT: Yeah. That is a mystery to me. I would love to shed some light on the future of that band, but that band is too aloof, even for me. I don't know what's next with that one. I think we're going to take things really slow with that one. Everyone in that band has been doing their own thing. When we can get together and play music, it's mostly just because it's fun and we're friends and we like to play music together. But, yeah, we've got some fun songs that we've recorded. I don't have any aspirations for it, but I love the people in that band, and I like to play music.

Islands:

02-13 Montreal, Quebec - Drawn and Quarterly (in-store)
02-16 Montreal, Quebec - Club Lambi
02-18 Dublin, Ireland - Whelan's
02-19 Belfast, Ireland - Speakeasy
02-20 Manchester, England - Night & Day
02-21 Bristol, England - Thekla
02-23 Nottingham, England - Liar's Club @ Stealth
02-24 Brighton, England - Brighton Barfly
02-25 Cambridge, England - Cambridge Barfly
02-26 London, England - Hoxton Bar & Grill
02-27 Paris, France - Point FMR
02-28 Rotterdam, Netherlands - Rotown
02-29 Nijmegen, Netherlands - Merleyn
03-01 Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso
03-02 Brussels, Belgium - Botanique
03-03 Utrecht, Netherlands - Tivoli
03-09 Pontiac, MI - Eagle Theater
03-10 Newport, KY - Southgate House
03-11 Memphis, TN - Hi-Tone
03-12 Denton, TX - Hailey's
03-13 Austin, TX - Emo's (Anti-/Utne Reader SXSW showcase) *
03-15 Austin, TX - Waterloo Park (SXSW)
03-17 Norman, OK - Opolis
03-18 Columbia, MO - Blue Note *
03-19 Lawrence, KS - Off Broadway
03-20 Bloomington, IN - Rhino's
04-16 Buffalo, NY - Soundlab
04-26 Indio, CA - Empire Polo Field (Coachella)
04-30 San Francisco, CA - Bimbo's
05-13 Chicago, IL - Logan Square Auditorium

* with Man Man

Stream: Islands: The Arm [from the Arm's Way LP]