ISLAND OF LOVE ANNOUNCE DEBUT ALBUM ON THIRD MAN RECORDS
OUT MAY 12TH
SHARE NEW DOUBLE A-SIDE
‘GROW / BLUES 2000’
Island of Love – the London trio making their name as Third Man London’s first UK signing – announce their follow up to last year’s Songs Of Love EP with news of their much-anticipated debut album, “Island Of Love“, set for release May 12th on LP, CD and cassette.
They’re also sharing the first taster of their self-titled record in double A-side single ‘Grow’ / ‘Blues 2000’. ‘Grow’ is a thrilling, melodic slice of indie-rock pulled from their earliest demos – self-released as the now long-sold out Promo Tape cassette – into the here and now and ‘Blues 2000’ is a gain-driven instrumental showcasing their dueling guitars and already an ear-splitting staple from the group’s live show. As well as flowing into each other on the album, it’s a live favourite of the band to play the two tracks back to back, so it makes complete sense these two would merge perfectly for the lead double A-side single.
Guitarist and vocalist Karim Newble had the following to say about their new single:
“”Grow” was originally written by me and Linus at my mum’s house. It was probably the first song we ever wrote together, and maybe the most positive song on the Promo Tape? I guess a lot of the lyrics were written with the intention of making each other laugh. The choruses preach typical self-help mantras, and all the verses are filled with nonsense about getting high and listening to Johnny Cash. We fleshed it out fully as a band in 2021 and played it at almost every show we’ve ever done, it has been a band favourite for a while.
“Blues 2000” was formed out of an old riff that we could never turn into a real song, Linus started shredding over it and we moulded it into some ridiculous jam – we’d always play it immediately after “Grow” cause they’re in the same tuning and just bridge it with the Eastenders drum fill. The scream in the middle is done by our friend Joey Drake who fronts a crazy hardcore band called Splitknuckle, we had him say the lyrics to “These Words” by Natasha Bedingfield cause it kind of matched up.”
Honestly, the energy that Island of Love exudes is something else, extraordinary and enthralling. You can’t help but be instantly mesmerized by the power of this outfit and the trio’s ability to capture that compelling magic within their records.
Island Of Love immediately throws the audience into the midst of its ravenous atmosphere fuelled with powerful tones and addictive vocal notes. The raucous world they create delves into the angular guitar tones and the overall hefty, solid, monolithic soundscape. The tonality dazzles, hooked on the plentiful rhythms that loop and join forces with the fast-paced striking drum shuffles and fills, this exciting ambiance dynamically grows and shifts through the blazing commitment of each musician. The enigmatic vocal harmonies solidify this track as crucial. And whilst explosive attributes thrive amongst the mammoth tones, Island Of Love has created something heavy yet enthusiastically infectious.
Karim, Linus and Dan met on the London DIY hardcore punk scene and their DIY outlook continues to fiercely inform all they do – Karim does all of the band’s artwork and posters, they print their own merch, book their own tours and with ‘Grow / Blues 2000’ they take center stage in their own video, directed by Cole Flynn-Quirke.
“The video itself spawned from an idea I’ve had for a while to visit Loch Lomond with the guys,” Karim continues. “Our friend Alfie drove us to Devil’s Pulpit which is a short drive from the loch with another friend Cole to shoot some cult looking stuff. We shot a lot of the footage in the space of two days and it gradually turned into a story of how we befriended a skeleton and initiated him into our cult. Cole shot the live footage at Fuzzbrain downstairs with the skeleton tied onto our friend Dylan so it looked like he was drumming and all the car footage was shot with our friend Theo’s help, who we asked to run by the windows with plants so it looked like we were driving… it didn’t.”
Pre-Order The Debut Album Here.
ISLAND OF LOVE
OUT MAY 12TH
THIRD MAN RECORDS
1. Big Whale
2. Fed Rock
3. Grow
4. Blues 2000
5. Sweet Loaf
6. I’ve Got The Secret
7. Losing Streak
8. Weekend At Clive’s
9. Charles
10. Never Understand
11. It Was All OK Forever
Island Of Love are:
Karim Newble – guitars, vocals
Linus Munch – guitars, vocals
Daniel Alvarez Giraldo – bass
Island of Love will also be touring in the EU / UK this Spring. Full routing is below.
13th April – VOL, Barcelona, ES
14th April – Le Ravelin, Toulouse, FR
15th April – Chinastraat, Ghent, BE
18th April – Vera, Groningen, NL
19th April – Cinetol, Amsterdam, NL
20th April – Autobahn, Berlin, DE
21st April – Ada, Warsaw, PL
25th April – Cafe XXE, Fribourg, CH
27th April – L’Intermediaire, Marseille, FR
29th April – Gold Sounds Festival, Leeds, UK
13th May – Rough Trade East, London, UK
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