Third Man London – the newest location for Third Man Records, which opened last year – has announced its first signing, Island of Love.
The teen indie-rock types will release an EP, ‘Songs of Love’, on 18th March 2022 digitally. A vinyl 7″ version will then follow in a limited edition run from 1st July.
Alongside the news, comes the collection’s title track – you can check that out, alongside a live performance of the track at Third Man London, below.
Originally called Love Island until band member “Linus didn’t make the audition process so we jumbled it around” – and not at all because that would be a legal minefield – Island of Love were apparently offered a deal immediately after they played the opening weekend of Third Man’s new Soho location by label co-founder and owner Ben Swank.
Ben explains: “I grew up a working class kid in Ohio, coming of age in the early 90s… did Island of Love’s songs immediately strike a note of familiarity to the heart strings of this former teenaged lo-fi obsessed anglophile? Yes they did. But it was no mere nostalgia (a ridiculous concept if ever there was one…).
IOL delighted and excited me from the second their corpse paint began to drip in the cold Brighton sun. They write killer songs and back them up with an exuberant stage show, ridiculous solos and harmonies acquired only through hours sat alone in one’s room, staring at Kinks 7″s revolving around the Dansette for hours.”
There’s a bit of The Cribs in there too, if you’re listening. They’re very good. You can stick that on the poster.
Speaking about signing to Third Man, the band say: “Songs of Love was a collage of pretty wacky riffs Karim would play as guitar warmups until writing with the full band.
Dealing with feelings of inadequacy, the lyrics shine a light on a way most of us felt before picking up an instrument, and the voice it’s since been able to give us. To have Third Man show an interest has been a surreal privilege to say the least.”
