“I’ve always hated sugar-coating things that, at their core, are actually kind of ugly,” says Island Of Love guitarist/vocalist Karim Newble. “We came up in the UK in the hardcore, punk and metal scene where music was noisy, heavy and really unattractive, and I feel like there’s beauty in that being what it is.”
The London-based band’s bittersweet alt.grunge, which Newble describes as “pretty music covered in spikes”, has drawn comparisons to the warm, unpolished fuzz fests of the lo-fi giants of the 80s and 90s: Dinosaur Jr, Teenage Fanclub, early Weezer.
