Islands’ ‘Wave Forms’ Video Affirms the Joy of Roller Skating

When Canadian art-pop outfit Islands released their fifth album, ‘Ski Mask,’ last month, frontman Nick Thorburn said it was “really about getting angry.” At first listen, the album’s lead single, ‘Wave Forms,’ doesn’t sound the least bit scathing, but after doing a double take, you’ll hear in the breezy track's lyrics that Thorburn has just about had it. It sounds as if the former Unicorns leader is referring to his own career when he sings, “I won’t write another word after today.”

However, the new video for ‘Wave Forms,’ directed by California-based production company Strike Anywhere, skews more toward the song’s outward sounds than its lyrical content. Islands’ piano- and horn-filled instrumentation serves as the soundtrack for the clip’s protagonist, Cory Zacharia, who joins Islands on a journey around L.A. and shows off some seriously killer roller-skating moves after sunset.

Zacharia was the subject of Strike Anywhere director Mike Ott’s documentary ‘Kid Icarus.’ It followed Zacharia, a former student of Ott’s, as he tried his hand at filmmaking in hopes of one day making it big.