User ratings in Music are temporarily disabled. More info
- Summary: The Swedish band returns with its second full-length album.
- Record Label: Labrador Sweden
- Genre(s): Rock, Pop
- More Details and Credits »
Top Track
| Above the Clouds of Pompeii | |
|---|---|
| We built our home out on the slopes Pompeii beneath, she lay above How she haunted our home How she haunted our home You were a god in my eyes Above... | See the rest of the song lyrics |
Powered by
Score distribution:
-
Positive: 4 out of 9
-
Mixed: 5 out of 9
-
Negative: 0 out of 9
-
The Mary Onettes have mastered the art of writing catchy four-minute tunes without compromising themselves, but nor do they take any risks.
-
Islands’ dreamy pop features a more general feeling of throwback moodiness. The shift bodes well for Philip Ekström’s longevity as a songwriter, and even though there are times when the nostalgic sound seems to be begging for hooks huge enough to make the band a household name (at least to kids dancing at indie nights a few decades from now), there’s no denying that The Mary Onettes know their way around a dramatic pop song.
-
Under The RadarIslands bring the lyrical gravity of a lead weight to the band's gorgeous sonic palettte. [Holiday 2009, p.79]
-
Q MagazineBut while their second album is lyrically all quiet desperation, boasting such giveaway titles as Once I Was Pretty and The Disappearance Of My Youth, musically it's an altogether more uplifting proposition of stately A-ha styled synth-pop. [Feb 2010, p. 112]
-
Catchy as it may be, Islands remains steadfast in the landscapes it portrays. The constraints of four-minute pop songs are defied with ease, weaving and stretching throughout said landscapes.
-
Islands is by no means a bad record. It's pleasant but it's unnecessary, and in an era of so many bands and so many releases, that's just not good enough.
-
Whilst Islands displays nuggets of well executed nostalgia, one can’t help but wonder if they have any style that isn’t old, borrowed or depressingly blue.
Score distribution:
-
Positive: 1 out of 1
-
Mixed: 0 out of 1
-
Negative: 0 out of 1
-
Jul 16, 2018
-