ISLANDS - A SLEEP AND A FORGETTING (LP)

Islands A Sleep And A Forgetting on LP + CD

Islands’ new album A Sleep & A Forgetting continues the band’s penchant for crafting adventuresome and infectious state of the art pop music. But this time band leader Nick Thorburn has infused the songs with a personal introspection that gives the record a new and powerful emotional resonance. The new album was produced by Thorburn and fellow Islands member Evan Gordon in less than two weeks, and the 11 songs were recorded live with hardly a single overdub. It’s a stripped down process and beautifully understated sound which only reinforces the confessional content of the lyrics.

This comes together to striking effect on songs like the darkly dramatic “Oh Maria,” written in the voice of Buddy Holly’s anguished young widow and her reoccurring crash site dreams. “She would have these dreams about being in the field where his plane went down,”Thorburn says. “She would be trying desperately to get past all the bystanders to see him one last time. It’s such an evocative story it just stuck with me. And it’s absolutely consistent with the album’s themes of heartbreak, death and dreaming.“ Far from being self‐pitying, A Sleep & A Forgetting powerfully transforms personal unrest into affecting and soulful pop music.

The LP version of A Sleep & A Forgetting comes with a cool and unique hidden track, toward the end of side 2 the album comes to false end with a locking groove of ambient loops. Listeners may then lift the stylus and find a hidden bonus track that closes the LP.

Islands A Sleep And A Forgetting Track Listing:

1.  In A Dream It Seemed Real
2.  This Is Not A Song
3.  Never Go Solo
4.  No Crying
5.  Hallways
6.  Can't Feel My Face
7.  Lonely Love
8.  Oh Maria
9.  Cold Again
10. Don't I Love You
11. Same Thing