A Sleep & a Forgetting


A Sleep & a Forgetting is the fourth studio album by Canadian indie rock band Islands. It was released on February 14, 2012, via ANTI-. Production was handled by members Nick "Diamonds" Thorburn and Evan Gordon. The album peaked at number 14 on the Heatseekers Albums chart in the United States.

Critical reception

A Sleep & a Forgetting was met with generally favorable reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 69 based on fifteen reviews.
Jen Kessler of Prefix praised the work, stating: "Thorburn anchors every note, every contribution with a personal outpouring of emotion and heartbreak, the likes of which we've never seen from him before". Larry Fitzmaurice of Pitchfork called the album "the most cohesive-- and, possibly, the out-and-out strongest-- Islands record yet". Chris Brancato of Beats Per Minute noted that "while A Sleep & A Forgetting is a bold new statement for the band, the album occasionally treads on the mundane level, due to its similarly-orchestrated tracks". AllMusic's Tim Sendra resumed: "anyone with a little distance from their own pain will find much to admire in the honesty and craft of the album". Alexander Heigl of PopMatters concluded that "simplicity is A Sleeps best value". Sputnikmusic's emeritus Rudy K. wrote: " the first time, A Sleep And A Forgetting gets at the heart of an artist who, over years of project changes and name switches, has remained frustratingly opaque".
In mixed reviews, Benjamin Boles of NOW Toronto stated: "it might be an imperfect stepping stone, but the staircase he's climbing here shows great promise". Jesse Cataldo of Slant described the album as "mildly composed, generally genial pop, with a few good hooks and ideas scattered throughout".

Personnel