Pitchfork: Islands Announce First Headlining Tour

Don't let the name fool you: Islands, the duo of ex-Unicorns members Nick Diamonds and J'aime Tambeur, aren't really the solitary types. Their debut album, Return to the Sea (due out April 3 in the UK on Rough Trade, and April 4 in North America on Equator), features a slew of Canadian scene types, including members of the Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade. And their touring gang features James R. Guthrie (yup, related to those Guthries), Togo-born bass player Patrice Agbokou, bass clarinetist Patrick Gregoire, multi-instrumentalists Alex Chow and Sebastian Chow (not related), and rappers Subtitle and Busdriver.

The whole crew will head out on their first-ever headlining tour this April, a mere two weeks after finishing up a trek opening for Metric. Anticon rapper-turned-indie-popper Why? will support on most dates, and the jaunt will end in Toronto with a showdown with Frog Eyes.

Love, exciting and new. Come aboard, Islands are expecting you:

03-27 Seattle, WA - The Showbox *%
03-29 Victoria, British Columbia - Legends *& (early show)
03-29 Victoria, British Columbia - Legends *& (late show)
03-31 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom *&
04-01 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom (early) *&
04-01 Vancouver, British Columbia - Commodore Ballroom (late) *&
04-19 Boston, MA - Middle East #
04-20 Providence, RI - Living Room #
04-21 Northampton, MA - Iron Horse #
04-22 New York, NY - Avalon #
04-23 Philadelphia, PA - First Unitarian Church #
04-24 Baltimore, MD - Ottobar #
04-25 Washington, DC - Black Cat #
04-26 Carrboro, NC - Cat's Cradle #
04-27 Atlanta, GA - Drunken Unicorn #
04-28 Pensacola, FL - TBA #
04-29 Houston, TX - Walter's on Washington #
04-30 Denton, TX - Hailey's #
05-01 Austin, TX - Emo's #
05-03 Tucson, AZ - Club Congress #
05-04 San Diego, CA - Epicentre #
05-05 Los Angeles, CA - El Rey #
05-06 San Francisco, CA - Slim's
05-08 Portland, OR - Loveland
05-09 Vancouver, British Columbia - Mesa Luna
05-10 Seattle, WA - Neumos
05-12 Salt Lake City, UT - Kayo Gallery
05-13 Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge
05-14 Lawrence, KS - The Bottleneck
05-15 St. Louis, MO - Creepy Crawl
05-16 Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
05-17 Chicago, IL - Metro
05-18 Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop
05-19 Toronto, Ontario - Opera House @
05-20 Montreal, Quebec - Le National

* with Metric
% with End of Fashion
& with Panurge
# with Why?
@ with Frog Eyes

In other ex-Unicorns news, Alden Penner has a record label now. It's called Take This Hammer, it's based in Montreal, and so far it has released three things: a Penner solo single, a single split between Penner and some guy named Brendan, and an EP by a band called Kickers.

P.S. Did you know that the Islands song "Rough Gem" synchs up PERFECTLY with the video for Greg Kihn's "Jeopardy"? We shit you not.