Third Man Records To Release Songs Of Love EP By Island Of Love On March 18

Third Man Records’ newest location which opened in September 2021 – has announced its first signing, the intrepid new indie quartet Island of Love.

The first collaboration between the two will be the Songs of Love EP, which will be released digitally on March 18, 2022, followed by a physical release in the form of a limited edition 7″ landing July 1st.

Hear the title track HERE, watch the band perform it live from Third Man London HERE, and pre-save the EP HERE.

Originally called ‘Love Island’ – until “Linus didn’t make the audition process so we jumbled it around” or, possibly, for legal reasons – Third Man London’s first signing settled instead on “Island of Love.”

For the label, an island within the UK music scene is exactly what Karim, Linus, Daniel and Jimmy are: feedback-fueled adolescents with a depth of songwriting unheard since Teenage Fanclub’s formative Catholic Education, and late ’80s Dinosaur Jr . So mind-bendingly good are the group that Third Man co-founder and owner Ben Swank presented an offer approximately thirty seconds after they played the opening weekend of Third Man’s new Soho digs (…new to the extent that drummer Jimmy left the stage with paint up his back).

Ben had the following to say about Third Man’s decision to take on Island Of Love: “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.” 

The band collectively had the following to say about “Songs Of Love” and their signing to Third Man Records:

“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.”

Bonded by playing in various punk, hardcore and metal bands in their hometown of London, Island of Love’s now double frontmen, Linus and Karim, would write and share demos between their family homes. The lo-fi, fuzzy fruits of these sessions melded into 2020’s now much sought after seven song Promo Tape.

Now, no longer a bedroom project, the four-piece’s first collaboration with Third Man is the EP Songs of Love: twelve minutes of adrenaline, awash with guitar distortion, Linus and Karim’s dark harmonies and contemplative lyrics beyond their teenage years.

Out March digitally and July 1st on super-limited 7″ vinyl, this special release is sure to go down in both the TMR history books as well as mosh pits nationwide.