Album Review: Islands - Ski Mask

The fifth album for Canadian quirk merchants Islands, Ski Mask is a mixture of their most loved releases – yet it's this amorphous nature that takes some of the unpredictable sting out of their tail. Still, Wave Forms is a beachside calypso for bookish types; Becoming The Gunship is a maudlin sojourn into breathy, anthemic passive aggression; a snarky lounge crawl serves Shotgun Vision; the upbeat balladry hides behind contemplations of addiction in Nil. Nick Thorburn has always known his way around all imaginable forms of pop hook – while there is less variation here, the earworms remain in fervent force.