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Canada's indie rock scene has been brimming with talented bands in recent years as amazing groups such as The Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, The Weakerthans, and Broken Social Scene have broken through to indie audiences. These groups also dabble in theatricality and experimentation in their works, which in turn makes it no surprise for the charming sextet Islands to deliver an amazing record with these qualities entitled Arm's Way. Arm's Way is the second album from Islands, which featured two members from the beloved indie band The Unicorns, but now currently only have one in vocalist/lyricist Nick Thorburn, and follows up the solid 2006 release Return to the Sea.

The album kicks off with a douzy called The Arm, so named for an informal French-Canadian shortening of "the harm." Immediately the pleasant sounds of the track recall legendary groups such as Jeff Lynne's ELO and yet brim with amazing originality. The lyrics tell the all too human story of terrible life-ending incidents which are just that: terrible and incidental. Thorburn is in tune with his content and knows when to keep to a simple point of life being a random experience where things happen with no apparent reasoning behind them because that is how life oftentimes is. And despite the dark subject matter of death and the dark sides of life addressed in the song, The Arm is also a dreamscape of amazing instrumentation.

The second track, Pieces of You, sets a backdrop of violence and evil to a warm string-filled sound that fits surprisingly great with the song. The same could apply to the slick midpoint track Creeper, only more guitar riffs and sexy hooks seep out of that track. While normally putting dark subjects to lighter musical tone would create a weird dichotomy between the lyrics and the music, here Islands shuffles through their paranoia with a sense of triumph, such as on the life-embracing Life in Jail, which goes from a slow buildup to a happy chorus as Thorburn gleams "You are forgotten."

If there is any remote fault in Arm's Way, it is that the finale track Vertigo (If It's A Crime) is far too long at eleven minutes in length. The track before it, the uniquely haunting I Feel Evil Creeping In, is a better closer with its similar buildup and feeling of triumph at the song's close.

However, this does not destroy what is accomplished on Arm's Way. The entire record truly depicts life as an experience with dark and troubling situations as well as uniquely beautiful moments. And for that, Islands create a true triumph in recorded form. Time will tell if this record truly becomes a classic, but for now, it is a wonderful record that reaffirms the good in life.

(On the last part, I might be guilty of a bit of hyperbole, but it's my favorite record this year and I don't think anyone is touching it.)

Thanks to Danny for the correction on the current members of Islands who were in The Unicorns.