Montreal rock ensemble Islands made an indie splash in ’06 with their breezy, mellifluous popadelic debut, Return to the Sea. The adventurous and progressive second effort, Arm’s Way, followed on a wave of dramatic symphonics in ’08. The third, Vapours (out Sept. 22, today, on Anti-), finds the band moving in a New Wave-wheeling and dance music-dealing direction. Vapours also marks the return of drummer and founding member Jamie Thompson, who split shortly after the release of Sea.

“I wanted to make this record in a very particular way, that was really analogous to his approach to music at this point in time — with drum machines and electronics,” frontman and creative force Nicholas Thorburn (aka Nick Diamonds) explained about his decision to invite Thompson back in a recent pre-tour interview with CL. “I just wanted a really fresh, minimal and immediate sort of approach to the record. And he was willing …”

Thorburn shed the lineup he’d assembled for Arm’s Way and brought on brothers Geordie and Evan Gordon of The Magic to join them as well as new producer Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV On The Radio). The foursome used sequenced programming and atmospheric techniques to explore the bright and shiny side of Islands, like in the buoyant bump-and-grind of “Switched On” with its synthesizer guns flaring in blasts and bleeps, or the none-too-serious poignancy and fuzzy grooves of “Tender Torture.”

Thornburn said he wanted Vapours to be a vibrant and lush experience, “But the idea was to have space, to have that sort of dynamic area where things could breathe and there could be space and time — let things open up and close accordingly, instead of going whole hog into something.” Vapours manages quite nicely, with Islands’ airily melodic hooks intact.