The return of The Society Islands

I don’t know how many of my regular readers have been around from the start, but if you have been, or if you’ve ever gone back to explore the archives, you’d know that one of the first artists I ever championed on QBiM was The Society Islands, a one-man band based out of Cologne, Germany, whose debut album, Kiss & Tell was high on my list of favourite albums of 2006.  Since then, Society Islands main-man Boris Rogowski has been working with another band, Stationary Hund (featured here), and preparing the follow-up to Kiss & Tell.  It hasn’t been easy.  In April of 2008, someone broke into Boris’ studio and stole the hard dives that had the album was on, and so he basically had to start the process over again from scratch.  You don’t have to be a struggling, independent musician to know just how much that would suck.

It must have been a difficult and arduous task, but Boris is nothing if not determined.  Last Hero of the Western World will finally see the light of day on February 19th, and it’s well worth the wait.  Kiss & Tell was an album of fractured fairytale pop gems, but things are a bit darker, edgier, and not so pleasant on Last Hero… (go figure!).  Boris has been keeping me in the loop through the process, and sent me a final version of the record just the other week, and I’m really loving it.  He’s a witty and intelligent songwriter who’s not afraid of letting songs evolve and develop at their own pace.  It’s a very unhurried record, and rewards the listener over and over again with unexpected twists and lyrical word play that keeps you heading back to listen again.  “Free Ride” is the first taste of the record he’ made available, and you can be sure that as release date creeps closer, I’ll be bringing you more of this record.  Back in 2006, Boris did a guest post for me, so maybe I’ll be able to get him to do it again.

MP3: The Society Islands “Free Ride”
Facebook: The Society Islands

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