Chicago rock scene veterans Henry Bianco and Brad Sawicki (Company of Thieves, Tom Schraeder and His Ego) unleashed their second EP, Sick City, under the name Volcanoes Make Islands this summer. The four-song record mixes and mashes up a variety of influences that would not work if in less capable hands. Bianco and Sawicki come at the listener with songs containing trace elements of dance, noise rock, pop, folk and groovy psychedelics that stay with you long after the Sick City ends.

I can’t help but wonder what that first Volcanoes Make Islands band meeting looked like. You know, the one where they discuss their influences and in what direction they want to take this new band.

It’s obvious that co-creators Henry Bianco and Brad Sawicki love music, multiple genres, in fact. The first half of Sick City is dominated by medium-paced dance rock tunes coupled with creative distortion and noise that should get you up and moving along to the beat. Yet, the second half delves into something very different. It is the last two songs that reveal VMI’s love of folk and psychedelic rock.

The opening track “The City of Big Yellers” starts the EP off right with distorted, crunchy guitar loops and addictive, driving drum beats and bass lines. The track is reminiscent of a less intense version of the symphonic UK band Muse with its airy, pop vocal harmonies and sharp guitar solos. The song’s chorus, “We are all in this together,” will stay in your head for days.

“Still Here” continues in the same vein as the EP’s opening track. Volcanoes Make Islands turn up the groovy, dance rock elements but not the intensity. The song’s chorus once again dominates with the lines “Cut off, Cut off my legs.” Things get really interesting when the band launches into a wall of noise for over 30 seconds during the song’s mid-section before settling back into normalcy.

Third track “Gypsies” teases the listener by slowing things down in the intro and then rising the action to a low, but steady intensity. The distortion guitars roar gently in the background much like a crashing ocean wave.

The album comes to an end with the light-hearted fourth track “Granola.” Here Volcanoes Make Islands utilizes simple vocals paired with gentle guitar picking before diving into a bouncy, folk-pop composition. It’s an unusual way to end considering how the first half of the EP kicks things off, but it provides the perfect example of how VMI can change things up.

Sick City proves that having multiple influences isn’t a terrible thing, it’s only what you do with them that matters. And the Sick City EP is a great prelude to a full-length record.

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Catch Volcanoes Make Islands when they perform on January 6, 2011, at Lincoln Hall.
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