It was a busy Saturday night at the Horseshoe Tavern with Montreal-formed, now Los Angeles-based Islands stopping by Toronto in support of 2013’s Ski Mask. Their fifth studio album holds up well on record – but it’s clear that the band is in their element when they’re in front of an audience.
Performing as a quartet, the project has undergone a myriad of lineup changes over the years – its only constant presence sitting with vocalist and guitarist Nicholas Thorburn. Its current roster also includes The Magic’s Evan and Geordie Gordon and former 3OH!3 drummer Adam Halferty.
They began their set with Vapours’ (2009) lead-off track “Switched On,” performed by Thorburn with an energetic, Vampire Weekend-like diction. The entirety of their set was in keeping with the upbeat. “Wave Forms,” off of Ski Mask, was a surprising dance party in concert – especially when compared to how it sounds on record. “Becoming The Gunship,” also from Ski Mask, was another surprise of a disco romp.
The night’s biggest highlight came with Vapours’ “Disarming The Car Bomb,” also sounding super disco and Franz Ferdinand-like thanks to Halferty’s percussion and double keyboards from the Gordon brothers.
“Shotgun Vision,” another off of their latest album, was more rock n’ roll than the songs that preceded it and was well received by the crowd. The more tropical “Don’t Call Me Whitney, Bobby,” from the band’s 2006 Return to the Sea debut, had the audience singing along and had Thorburn remark: “You guys are so f*cking cute. It’s so weird.”
“Volcanoes,” also from their debut, showed off Thorburn’s impressive vocals while “Swans (Life After Death)” placed most of the focus on the instrumentals – the band’s percussion and bass driving the song to its big, extended instrumental finish. “Heartbeat” was worth comparisons to equally quirky band We Are Scientists while “Where There’s A Will There’s A Whalebone” veered more toward dubstep electronics, Islands really pulling out all the stops in showing off a range of ways to get the audience moving.
Also of note was the band’s choice of outfits. They were seemingly prepared for every situation. Thorburn’s argyle socks, short pants, and white shoes had him ready for the country club; what Geordie Gordon lacked in a cowboy hat he made up for in spurs, looking like he was ready to ride off into the sunset on a horse; Evan Gordon went completely nautical, boat captain hat and all; and Adam Halferty was more utilitarian in a button-down dress shirt but rocked an impressive head of hair.
For Islands, they’ve got a long history behind them, an impressive back catalogue to pull from, and the ability to make the crowd dance. As a frontman, Thorburn was very much engaged with the crowd in front of him. He’d ham up his behaviour for people’s iPhone videos, reach out and touch heads, and stoop down to take a selfie with someone in the front row. “Oh Toronto, I like you,” Thorburn told the crowd. You could tell the feeling was mutual.
