John's Track of the Week: "Where There's A Will There's A Whalebone"

Song: Where There's A Will There's A Whalebone

Artist: Islands

Album: Return to the Sea

Year: 2006

Trust me, it's only coincidence that I spoke of Human Highway earlier, and now, am giving props to yet another Nick Thorburn-related track.  Just as some background to anyone who may not be acquainted with Mr. Thorburn, he was the frontman for The Unicorns from 2000-2004.  The Unicorns were a Canadian indie/psychadelic group, and were critically acclaimed, until their breakup.  Since then, Thorburn has been involved in numerous projects, including the aforementioned Human Highway, Islands and Th' Corn Gangg- a hip hop project, as well as the solo album he's currently working on, for release later this year.

Islands' first record, Return to the Sea, was released in 2006, and many can consider it a continuation of The Unicorns' stream of consciousness, with Thorburn's usual fixation on aspects of death (not in a morbid way, of course).  It is believed that this song was a big part of the inspiration for Th' Corn Gangg performances, which were comprised mainly of hip hop collaborations of Islands and Unicorns songs with rappers Busdriver and Subtitle.  The second half of the song features rapping, which is surprisingly good, and lends support to the need for a Corn Gangg studio record.  One has yet to be released at this time.  Enjoy "Where There's A Will There's A Whalebone" below though, as it's one of Islands' best.