International Airport, Reunion of Island Goose

reviewed by anna battista

Follow up to their debut album Nothing We Can Control, International Airport's Reunion Of Island Goose (released through Geographic in August) is a bit more playful and poetical than its predecessor. The album was mostly composed by the core elements of this band, multi-instrumentalist and contributor to The Pastels, Tom Crossley, Stephen Aston on guitar and vocals and Annabel 'Aggi' Crossley, on bass, vocal and cover artwork.

Reunion Of Island Goose is a record about the beauty of ordinary things and ordinary people: the opening track "Association" (with a vocal cameo from Alasdair Roberts) is a dreamy number with jangly guitars and will be the first single taken from the album (its B-side will be the same song covered by Teenage Fanclub); "Cordial Arrest" is the essence of a chaotic summer, while "From Between My Daddie's Toes" is a gentle and sweet song. The album unfolds between a Brazilian feeling track ("O Lago Temporário"), a bizarrely titled instrumental ("Micro-Organism will Take These Instruments") and fresh, adventurous rhythms ("Jump On The Rack" and "Spin Me Round (You'll See I Got Motion)").

Half recorded in East Kilbride Arts Centre by David Scott (The Pearlfishers) and half in Chicago with the help of John McEntire (Tortoise) in his legendary Soma studio, Reunion Of Island Goose sounds like water rippling on a lake, summer breeze caressing your face and pure happiness. It would be a crime not to listen to it.

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Issue 24, June 2004