Monday, November 23, 2009

Gig: Islands

Islands (Gregory Pepper and His Problems / Toro Y Moi)

Mod Club. Saturday, November 7, 2009.

On a Saturday night that I already had a gig to go to, made a last-minute-ish decision to double up on the evening and take in the early-doors Mod Club show. Not that I was overwhelmingly enthused to go see Islands — I'd already not seen 'em once this summer, and for free to boot. In fact, I was almost entirely there for the opener, Jemina Pearl, ex of beloved food fight/zombie beach party rockers Be Your Own Pet.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanyways, long story short, I get there just before the 6:30 starting time, peruse the scene, and get this hinky feeling when three dudes take the stage. Not what I was expecting. When they introduced themselves as Gregory Pepper and His Problems, I was feeling a bit miffed. Not in the most neutral frame of mind to try and enjoy them instead of the opener I was expecting, but their own qualities didn't make that any easier. Billing themselves on their myspace as writing "dumb, catchy songs" I can at least say that's half right. When Eddie Murphy is who you're cribbing lyrics from/paying homage to ("My girl wants to party all the time") then maybe it's time for a re-think. I'm a firm believer in the wisdom of David St. Hubbins' remark about the fine line between clever and stupid1 and this band simply fell on the wrong side. Faux classic rock grandiousity and an "ironic" lyrical sentiment — mostly reminiscent of the sort of band majors tried to market via mersh radio in the middle-late nineties. I could go on in this vein, but I shan't. Best to take a deep breath and move on.

After that, I figured most anything'd seem like a relief. So I tried to put on a brave face for Toro Y Moi, playing a one-man show with laptop and keyb. A 23-year-old out of South Carolina, Chaz did show musical range, building up from swirly loop-pop to dancier stuff, but none of it particularly struck me.

Which left me in a not-particularly-warmed-up state for Islands, with whom I'd gotten pretty severely out of touch with. I'd seen them touring their first album back in '06, opening for Metric2, but the soggy, proggy lump of follow-up Arm's Way had severely turned me off. I'd passingly heard that there'd been a re-think and an essentially new band this time round. So, open mind, deep breath, etc. etc.

Nick Thorburn came out in oversized sunglasses and a silver-spangled cape, playing every inch the conquering space lord from a sci-fi b-movie. He was flanked by a pair of musicians, switching off between guit, bass and keybs who also looked as if their stage wear was inspired by Plan 9 From Outer Space. I squinted, trying to place them, until I realized that they were Geordie and Evan Gordon of The Magic. The band was completed by prodigal drummer Jamie Thompson — not wearing anything that sparkled — making for a full roster on the stage with no small amount of pop savvy. Playing the last show of their tour, the band didn't seem worn out and eager to be done — rather, we got the band in that "smoothly-oiled machine" phase.

The set started with four tracks from Vapours, establishing the new direction, and my immediate reaction was that going glam was a good move for this band. "No You Don’t" was particularly winning. The setlist mixed it up a bit more after that, with Arm's Way's "Creeper" actually fitting in quite nicely. There were a couple from the first album ("Where There's a Will There's a Whalebone" and "Don't Call Me Whitney, Bobby") interspersed among the new stuff. There were some nice textures in play like the Bowie-in-Berlin icy keybs3 of "On Foreigner" — not, it would seem, a discourse about Lou Gramm. Not everything was a smash — Vapours track "Heart Beat" felt like one trip too many to the same well of inspiration, and "The Arm" is still a little too ponderous for my taste. And towards the end, when Thorburn pulled out his falsetto, I blanked out a bit. But rather effective overall. Not surprisingly, "Rough Gem", in its clap-along live finery led off the encore and it all ended — right back at the beginning — with "Swans (Life After Death)".

So, given that I'd come in with pretty low expectations for Islands, I can easily say they were exceeded. Definitely some good stuff amongst the new material and Thorburn had far more stage presence than I remembered. After the disappointment of the opening act switcheroo, I managed at least to leave feeling like the night had scrapped its way back to a draw.4 And out in good time to head the my main gig of the night.

Listen to a track from this set here.



1 He asserted that there was one.

2 A show I mostly remember for being stuck behind a sold wall of mean-looking teenage girls who were smoking furiously.

3 Or, possibly inspired by Real Life's "Send Me an Angel", which could be seen as a bit of a Rosetta Stone to decode the sound of much of the new material. Oh man, did my sister ever listen to that song a lot in 1983 — it's branded in my neocortex. And I forgot how hilarious that video was — scarves! electronic drums! maidens in distress! the wolfman! Still — guit solo aside — fabulous track.

4 And just as a postscript, I sent a note to the promoters after the fact and was satisfied with their response — apparently they were as blindsided by the change as anyone else.

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