in 2005 nick thornburn (vocals, guitar, keyboard) and jamie thompson's (drums) band islands was born upon the demise of their previous group, the very successful the unicorns.  since then, they have featured a regularly changing lineup of contributing members: alex and sebastian chow- the 1993 and 1994 world super n.e.s. fest champions (i'm not really sure what that means, maybe something to do with nintendo?); jim guthrie- grandson of woody; rappers subtitle and busdriver (no idea who they are); and richy parry from the great band, arcade fire.

anyway, the band recorded much of their debut album, return to the sea, in jamie's apartment.  nick describes the album as having "some dancehall influences, some calypso... it's more diverse and sprawling and ambitious," and "a bit more mature than the unicorns... more of a neil young/brian wilson vibe running through it."

in may 2006, one month after the band's debut release, jamie quit.  he was quoted as saying, "i'm just not sure that being in a successful band is all that important to me anymore. i'm not leaving because of any problems with people in the band."  to which nick replied, "the band waltzes on...  islands are forever."

two years later, in june 2009, the duo worked out their issues and jamie triumphantly returned to the lineup.

prima donnas.

their latest lp, vapours surfaced september 22, 2009 backed by an entirely new cast of contributing members and a new sound.  "that's important to me, to be able to constantly try new things," said jamie. "that's why this record's largely informed by electronic stuff like drum machines, sequencing, and programming, which really scales it back from the last record."