Recent LA transplants Islands kicked off their North American tour at the Great Scott. Stacked with tour mates Brazos and Boston local favorite Skinny Bones, ailment Great Scott was packed to the brim. I’ve been to Great Scott my fair share of times and I have never waited in a queue to get in until tonight.

Originally from Montreal, pharm the indie band is led by Unicorns frontman Nicholas Thorburn (affectionately known as Nick Diamonds). Thorburn’s signature style involves dark lyricism and messages woven through enjoyable and typically upbeat tempos. Listening to Islands’ latest release, viagra order Ski Mask, at home, I was eager to see how the material would come to life. While Thorburn often traverses opposite emotions, would the audience be able to do the same?

I often wonder how many people listen to music with complete disregard for lyrics. Granted, we’ve all had the “Oh, is that was he’s singing about?” moment, and we’ve all openly admitted to loving a song purely for the melody with zero interest in the lyrical message. There’s no shame in that. I am thrilled to report that Islands’ fans seem to juggle the juxtaposition seamlessly.

Clad in a colorful 80s windbreaker, Thorburn and his bandmates took the stage to a thundering house. After a brief introduction the band jumped into “Wave Forms,” off of their new album. The house began to sway with Thorburn’s twinkling melody. “Becoming the Gunship” easily became my favorite new track of the night before the set list dipped into older cuts.

Longtime Islands fans were treated to a vast sampling of the band’s discography, including “Disarming the Car Bomb” off of 2009’s Vapours and “Creeper” off of 2008’s Arm’s Way. Few moments from the night can top seeing the couple next to me grab each other’s shoulders and immediately start bouncing off the ground with the first beats of “Don’t Call Me Whitney, Bobby,” a track that made its debut back in 2006!

This year’s  Ski Mask was met with some mixed reviews, as it is easily the bands’ most low-key album to date. Considering the shuffling of band members, the dissolution of Thorburn’s marriage, and, you know, life — change was inevitable.  In a press release, Thorburn said, “This record is really about being angry. For better or worse, this record kind of sums up my experience thus far with being in a band. I feel like we’re kind of at a crossroads…for Islands, this is us waiting for the breakthrough moment.”

I was hooked into thirty seconds of seeing Thorburn take the stage, and from what I saw last night, the fans have been there from the beginning, and will follow him wherever he goes.