Islands - Rough Gem

What this video is

Released in April 2006, 'Rough Gem' arrived as the lead single from Islands' debut album 'Return to the Sea', the first major project from Nicholas Thorburn (Nick Diamonds) and Jamie Thompson following the breakup of The Unicorns in 2004. The video sits within the Montreal indie explosion of the mid-2000s — the same ecosystem that produced Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade, both of whom contributed to the album. The band…

Why it matters

'Rough Gem' exemplifies the mid-2000s indie pop moment: eclectic, orchestral-adjacent, playful, and rooted in a neo-psychedelic sensibility that drew comparisons to Elephant 6 collective acts of the late 1990s. As a lead single and music video, it served as the primary visual introduction to…