Islands Lost At Sea - Are Having A Lovely Time (Staywarm Records)

Ok I'm officially confused. There's just too much going on here, I don't know what to focus on, I guess the artwork should have tipped me off! Islands Lost At Sea's debut album is almost like the audio equivalent of a crazy eye picture. It sounds like a mess at first but if you stand back, relax your ears a little and try not to focus to hard on it it just about starts to make sense. Some may think I'm being a bit harsh here but one suspects the band would be quite pleased with that analogy, they are (after-all) just THAT kind of band.

There are 15 tracks here with the majority falling between 2 and 4 minutes, so you'd expect winsome pop songs would you not? Especially considering the gloriously bright, abstract wonder of the album's overly complex packaging. What we have instead however is a record which falls somewhere between The Flaming Lips more quirky eccentricities and the free-for-all experimentalism of early Animal Collective. The album was recorded by a revolving cast of characters utilising some vastly eclectic instrumentation (everything from guitars and drums to horns, strings and tablas) and a pleasingly lo-fi assortment of recording techniques. The result is dependably odd with many of the tracks coming across as more 'loose jams' than traditional songs. In fact the record doesn't really work as a collection of songs, it works more as a sustained mood 'piece' as there are no real standout's and the songs tend to fold into each other.

Vocals are sporadic and often buried in the mix and electronics blend seamlessly with organic instrumentation in a similarly charming way to the Beta Band's first 3 EP's. It genuinely feels like alot of care, attention (and most importantly) fun went into these recordings and there are moments where the haze fades to reveal some lovely melodies ('Adelaide Lightning Storm' and 'Sun Song' especially) but overall the album feels incomplete and lacks any definable focus. It's infuriating as there's obviously alot of talent here, it just needs to be refined. A shame as I really wanted to like this!

Benjamin Hiorns - Tasty

 

 

There’s something dolefully splendid about the drones and scrappy violins on this track that make it a wonderful sit by the fire on a cold night with a glass of red kind of listen. And in a nice way, not in a Turin Brakes way. The introduction of brass and guitar feedback into the track is handled sensitively as it is kept nicely subdued in the mix .

Tasty Fanzine

ADELAIDE LIGHTNING STORM No.12 * unsigned record of the week *. I don’t really know if bands like to be described as ‘experimental’ , yet Bolton’s Islands Lost At Sea are working hard at the coal force of the north Manchester musical hinterland. Their particular town is like most provincial areas, but benefits from the existence of a notable musical community. In some dark corners and back streets you expect to hear the vengeful sound of barking guitars, but on this particular Island, you’ll hear the results of carefully applied studio effects and looped instruments. “Adelaide Lightning Storm No. 12” bubbles with electronic oscillations, peeling, jangling guitar and some brassy melodics. Stirred within this, are suggestive moments of folk, elemental electronica and the ethereal, yet purposefully understated vocals of Dan Lever. Islands Lost At Sea specialise in soundtracks to fire your imagination, It deserves to have been written in LA, but could only really have been meaningfully composed in a former mill town on the edges of a post industrial city.

Manchester Music

Islands Lost at Sea - Platypus Fink(Stay Warm) Chronicling the exploits of Platypus Fink (a superhero whose only power is to make people feel uncomfortable around him), ILAS's latest single is a deft combination of musical styles. It blends lo-fi acoustic pop with mellow jazz and discordant guitars, interlaced with rather sweet dual male/female vocals that hint towards the titular hero's maladroitness, sounding like an even-more awkward version of Elbow's Guy Garvey. B-side “Wobbly Dog” has an air of Nine Inch Nails about it, only infinitely more happier and jovial than anything Trent Reznor ever released. Like the lead single, it also mixes up the genres, combining an industrial sound with a mid-90s indie twang. The difference in style of both songs certainly makes ILAS difficult to categorise, but it does go some way to suggest what this band is capable of.

4/5 Highvoltage

Located right within the heart of the Bolton music scene, Islands Lost At Sea provide a unique distillation of northern poetry and genre defying collisions of rock, cut and paste beats and other assorted samples. “Platypus Fink” finds itself with a typical ILAS title, but within it’s melting combination of funk and twisted takes on bands like Talking Heads, there’s a also a pleasing wash of melody, folky noodlings and spoken word observation. It finishes on a sublime shimmer of guitar effects and tropical island arpeggios. This two track download release is backed with the electric “Wobbly Dog” (yes, another odd title). This is a track that stretches a James Brown funk into both a falsetto and an outer space array of echoes and sub bass synthesisers. The more you liten to Islands Lost At sea, the more you can dig out other influences like Gang Of Four and Nitzer Ebb, all swirled up and re-chopped into a fission of looped electro angst. This is a unique wonky rock sound for the Greater Manchester scene – They reckon they sound like Tom Waits meets Lemon Jelly - long may they wobble.

4/5 www.manchestermusic.co.uk

Bolton three-piece Islands Lost At Sea combine SFA style lo-fi pop experiments with Roald Dahl-esque surrealism and The Spinto Band's entire kazoo collection, sing in tongues and mess with pretty much every musical genre ever invented; from baggy to hip-hop beats, or acoustic chill out and feedback drenched rock. Islands are the most creative thing to be associated with Bolton since Jay-Jay Okocha. They haven't been named twice, but they're so good they bloody should be.

5/5 High Voltage

(The Way We Played It Yesterday), Islands Lost At Seas debut offering, kicks off with an infectious bass line that immediately gets inside you. This hook and the 4/4 beat propel the song, while a variety of instruments and samples that sound like everything from the kazoo to modem noises to backing vocals by the Chipmunks launch an intricate assault on the ears. Things break down for something of an eye to the storm with mysterious vocals that sound a lot like local boy Guy Garvey, and then you’re off again on a magical carpet ride through Islands Lost At Seas strange world. Like a cartoon pop song might sound to the deranged, it begs repeated listens.

4/5 www.rockfeedback.com

ISLANDS LOST AT SEA: With the elastic-groove of an updated Stone Roses, and the wonky pop of The Flaming Lips, these boys are onto a winner.

www.subba-cultcha.com

Make a note of this band - Islands Lost At Sea have been snapped up by aA which gives every indication that this group are little more out of the ordinary than most other acts. They are too, as "The Way We Played It Yesterday" is full of mechanical sequencing and electronic wizardry, baggy rhythms and the throbbing drive of the bass. When the vocals do materialise through a mist of broken distortions and falling squeals, they're simply just there as a diversion. It's a weird blend of cut and paste looping and sampling, much of it sounding live, as it clambers over an outcrop of twisted folk. The track returns to a jolly shuffle, kazoos clucking over the top of the looped stomp. It's the craziest mix of all sorts and everything, slammed into a mind bending party anthem and it definitely makes them ones to watch.

4/5 www.manchestermusic.co.uk

ILAS's debut "The way we played it yesterday" is synthetically backed experiment in feedback guitar noise with a breakdown that utilises what sounds like finger pianos and a kazoo. An eclectic approach like that should make the long player an interesting listen if not for the juxtaposition of sounds but wether they can keep it together like the structure of this first missive.

Norman Records

Bolton trio Islands Lost At Sea serve bouncing electro-acoustica remiscent of the criminally underrated Caribou or Beta Band in an uncharacteristically chirpy mode. With a bass line elastic enough to have been performed on rubber bands, squeals suggesting someone's scoffing a boxful of kazoos, even a slide-guitar fuelled breakdown oozing with atmospheric Ry Cooderisms.

Janne Oinonen - Kruger Magazine

’Way we played it yesterday’ is quite frankly akin to have fluffy marshmallow force fed via a huge syringe into the spaces that lie in your head and is the debut release from Dan, Adam (obviously not the names they were born with) and Bodge who are collectively known to a very strange and select musical community (who it has to be said huddle en masse to venture out after dark and even then only on the proviso that their guardians have said they can) as Islands lost at Sea. Swiftly stepping aside the audible muttering of ’ones to watch for’ this trippy little nugget will appeal principally to all those who’ve ever lain awake at wondering what a sunny afternoon spent chilling on the riverbank smoking hi-grade weed in the company of Tunng and the skewed crooked symphonies that made up Go Team’s ’Get it together’ (because I know we have mainly for the fact that we don’t sleep anymore at the Losing Today compact and bijou record shed- well not since T*sco asked for their experimental multi purpose environmentally friendly life size cardboard box back - ho hum). Dippily decorated with kooky kazoos, sponge like bass underpins, South Pacific dream scapes, pissed pastoral pastiches and bathed with an impeccable though obviously inebriated down tempo vibe this bonkers beaut has all the trimmings of a lysergic Muppets parade suffering sun stroke on sea side day out with Toshack Highway‘s debut full length for ear phone.

www.losingtoday.com

The other combatant in my clash was the little known Bolton band Islands Lost At Sea who I happened to have heard on myspace and loved. I left the main arena and went to see them, and I made the right choice. The music is complex and interesting, a PC taking drum machine duties while the front man plays acoustic, accompanied by bass and electric guitar. The song delivery is simple, the trio dressed normally, there's no gimmicks, and their music really appeals to me. I'd describe it as Radiohead meets Air but with Editors like vocals. 'Mouldy Dog' and the 'Platypus Fink' with addition of the vocals of Miss Cook have lovely harmonies, flowing basslines and punctuated guitar flourishes. I suspect this will never be mainstream because it's too musical for the indie kid generation, but it should be, it's all rather lovely and feel good. The windows shut down exclamation at the end of the set was pure accidental genius.

Scott Williams efestivals.co.uk