A few years back, Nick Thorburn evidently remembered that his Islands project was among the top 10 things called that and brushed off the moniker for the first time in five years to record the dance-punk LP Islomania. After a decade that began with him collaborating with El-P and the short-lived hip-hop collective Hellfyre Club and ended with him penning music for a pair of the most popular podcasts of their time, a return to the seasoned indie-pop moniker felt like a bit of a full-circle moment in spite of the considerably broadened sonic palette he brought to the LP in contrast with his more rock-oriented 2006 debut.
At the end of next month, Thorburn will be following that project up with another new Islands record called And That’s Why Dolphins Lost Their Legs which houses the subtly entrancing new single “Superstitious.” A bit of a left turn from the playful electronic dance music of Islomania, the track marks a pivot to more minimal, earnest synth music as Thorburn’s painfully open lyrics hide behind slight vocal modulation. “It’s attempting to capture the almost religious experience of falling in love,” he discloses.
“When I write a song, I never truly know if what I’m making is working,” Thorburn continues. “There’s a blind approach that requires a kind of faith that something good will happen. There’s no strategy and no grand plan. And I think that’s really the only way to do it. To give in to chaos. You’ll make some ugly trees along the way, but when you hit upon something good, it’s supernatural and even merciful, like you’ve been liberated from yourself.”
The track comes paired with a psychedelic video created by Strange Process, a visual artist from Canada who colorfully translates the track’s enveloping ambient sounds into slowly transitioning visuals. “We were fans of each other and so it was an easy fit,” Thorburn notes of the collaboration. “I needed something abstract, like the listener was moving through an Impressionist painting. And he delivered!”
Find the video and Islands’ upcoming tour itinerary below.
