SOSUS

After some interesting opening acts, including a fusion of old Yiddish theater and hip-hop, the headlining Islands took the stage. The six piece band takes their love for calypso, Paul Simon's Graceland, and bass clarinet to create a sound all their own. Currently promoting their debut album, Return to the Sea, Islands are currently making their way across America. The band was originally conceived by Nick Diamonds (real name: Nicholas Thorburn) and J'aime Tambeur (real name: Jamie Thompson), both members of the now defunct Unicorns. As The Unicorns, Diamonds and Tambeur accomplished mild success with the album Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Dead? The band's songwriting resembles Islands with its band-name-themed lyrics ("I am a unicorn / I missed the ark but I could've sworn / You'd wait for me"), but represents an earlier time in Diamond's and Tambeur's songwriting ability. Return to the Sea offers the listener a more eclectic sound, showing evidence of experimentation with many different musical forms. Tambeur eventually left the band, sighting personal reasons. Islands continues on with Diamonds at the helm.

When Islands took the stage, they were met with cheers from a large, excited crowd. "Something seems off about tonight," Nick Diamonds spoke into the microphone, "maybe because it's Friday the 13th." Diamonds opening lines would prove to more accurate than he probably would have wanted them to be. He turned around and picked up his acoustic, placed it around his neck. Diamond struck his first chord and closed his eyes, reading to being singing the song "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby." Before he could open his mouth, he opened his eyes; no sound was coming out of his guitar. The other members of the band started waving to the man in the sound booth. Putting down their instruments, the band spent the next few minutes trying to fix the problem.

As the band worked several members of the crowd, either drunk or juvenile, started heckling Islands, shouting "Bo - ring!" and clapping their hands. Diamonds in particular seemed very agitated by this, and the members of the band eventually left the stage, save one, who continued to work on the problem. After twenty or so minutes had passed, Islands came back on stage, deciding to perform without the aid of the acoustic guitar. Diamonds was visually upset because of all of the heckling, showing this clearly as he flipped-off some of the members of the audience before picking up his white electric guitar.

From the first song, Islands were determined to make up for lost time. They move from song to song quickly, playing both newly written songs as well as some of the more popular songs off of Return to the Sea, including "Rough Gem," "Swans (Life After Death)" and "Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone." The band performs very well together, each of their songs modified for the live show. Probably one of the most interesting songs during the concert was the song "There's a Will There's a Whalebone." On Return to the Sea, the song features the rapping of both Busdriver and Cadence Weapon. For the performance at the Ottobar, in place of the rap section Islands featured a dueling violin solo by the band's Alex and Sebastian Chow. Even with six members, every person besides the drummer and the bassist covered two or more different parts. While the songs progressed the lead guitarist, Patrick Gregoire, switched back and forth from guitar, to bass clarinet, and back.
The concert reached a boiling point when a heckler between songs managed to rise another response from Nick Diamonds. "Why do you have to say that man?" Diamonds asked the audience member, "have some tact." Unfortunately for everyone else, the heckler wouldn't stop, and after a few more songs Diamonds reached his breaking point. "I am doing everything in my power not to throw down this guitar, and beat the shit out of you." Diamonds, who was the least lively of the band all night, now took center stage, "It's been a fucked up day. I've been trying to get into it all night, but you just won't let me." Diamonds covered his eyes and looked to the back of the club, "can we get this guy thrown out of here?" Before too long a bouncer arrived and escorted the heckler out of the club.

As soon as the heckler left, Diamonds seemed to loosen up, and by the last few songs, started to become animated. The band ended their set with "Bucky Little Wing", and "song about friendship and happiness" as introduced by Diamonds, and "Volcanoes". Interruptions aside, Islands put on an energetic and fun show. The band feels more like a local group of college seniors than a cross-country-touring group. This level of approachability, often hard to find in this era of aloof hipsters, allow the audience to really become involved with the performance. Islands proved this impression to be true after the show, when a few of the members, including Sebastian Chow and Nick Diamonds, came out to talk to the people still in the venue. If given the chance, Islands are definitely worth seeing live. The bands highly integrated songs, featuring tightly coordinated bass guitar and bass clarinet lines, recorder solos and violin swells, create a sound impossible to duplicate.