Album: Arm's Way *

Song Title

Time

Arm, The

Pieces of You

Taime Vous Voir Quitter

Abominable Snow

Creeper

Kids Don't Know Shit

Life In Jail

In the Rushes

We Swim

10)

To a Bond

11)

I Feel Evil Creeping In

12)

Vertigo (If It's a Crime)

Album: Arm's Way *

Song Title

Time

Arm, The

Pieces of You

Taime Vous Voir Quitter

Abominable Snow

Creeper

Kids Don't Know Shit

Life In Jail

In the Rushes

We Swim

10)

To a Bond

11)

I Feel Evil Creeping In

12)

Vertigo (If It's a Crime)

Performer Notes

Nick Diamonds manages to get by despite losing bandmates. After leaving the Unicorns with Jamie Tambeur, his new band, Islands, made an immediate splash with the idiosyncratically baroque RETURN TO THE SEA. And now with the departure of Tambeur, Diamonds has persevered with a new lineup and a slightly more aggressive sound (guitars that occasionally overpower strings and keyboards, filling in the empty spaces with a bit of bite). His professed fixation on T. Rex serves him well on charged anthems like "Kids Don't Know Sh*t," which also feels like a belated response to Mott the Hoople's "All The Young Dudes." But it's the album's soaring qualities that elevate it beyond standard genre fare, even if a new coat of grit serves this band well.

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (p.71) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[O]n ARM'S WAY, gifted singer-songwriter Nick Thorburn broadens the band's quirk-pop into wonderfully shambolic arena rock..."

Spin (p.114) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "ARM'S WAY is an album of quick changes, rescues, and escapes, equating the shock of death with the shock of realizing that you're alive."

Alternative Press (p.131) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Frontman Nick Diamond has taken the opportunity to compose some of his most textured and sonically diverse songs to date."

CMJ - "With adventurous violins, murderous lyrics and refined foot-stomping fun, ARM'S WAY deconstructs indie rock in favor of symphonic forays into magical lands, both real and imaginary."

Clash (magazine) (p.119) - "[The songs] brim with psychedelic loveliness and orchestral abandon thanks to their infectious multi-instrumental talents."