Penelope Isles – Until The Tide Creeps In (2019)
FLAC (tracks) 24-bit/44,1 kHz | Time – 44:05 minutes | 477 MB | Genre: Indie, Alternative, Psychedelic Pop
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Bella Union
For every sibling band forged in rivalry, many others mount an unassailable genetic argument for keeping the music in the family. The latter is assuredly the case with Penelope Isles, a brother-sister-centred alt-rock quartet from Brighton (via Isle of Man/Devon) whose debut album, Until the Tide Creeps In, is released through Bella Union this summer. Formed around the chemistry between dual songwriters Jack and Lily Wolter, the quartet’s expansive DIY mix of translucent dream-pop, fuzz-rock guitars and indie-psych flushes comes lovingly dipped in exquisite harmonies and lustrous melodies: a combination so intuitive, you’d think it was in their blood. Crisp and woozy, blissful and biting, it’s an album deepened by shared experience: experiences of, in Jack’s words, “leaving home, moving away, dealing with transitions in life and growing up. We are six years apart, so we had a different experience of some of this, but we share a similar inspiration when writing music. Family, leaving home, disconnection and connection all ring bells!”
As well as being siblings, Jack and Lily Wolter are also the voice and pen behind Penelope Isles, the 4 man squad from Brighton. Until the Tides Creep In is the band’s ten track debut album, demonstrating a jack-of-all-trades approach to music: there’s the haziest psychedelic dream-pop on Chlorine, some emotive soft-rock on Three and rocking riffs on the hard-hitting Leipzig. But it would be all too easy to just list the songs on the album and enumerate each of their approximate styles and leave it at that. Although the influences are as obvious as they are diverse, the sum of its parts is entirely unique, be it Lily’s shrouded tone of voice, or the balancing act between childlike lullaby and teenage rebellion. Not Talking exemplifies this dichotomy: the slow triple-time ballad is laced with howling fuzzy guitars and hypnotizing bells. Until the Tides Creep In is the sound of a band who have accepted the price of wearing so many influences on your sleeve . Their refusal to compromise is absolute: dissonance at the heart of the songs as well as the record is carried with pride, lending momentum and strength to wall-of-sound moments, where the quartet is most unified – such as on Cut Your Hair. The penultimate track on the album combines chamber-pop vocals and gritty guitars in the style of Grizzly Bear, then drowns Wolter’s voice in a sonic hurricane. The noisy, saturated processing on the drums is conducive to explosive breaks à la Tame Impala (whose influence is everywhere on the album), contributing to make this one of the best tracks on the record. For many bands, a debut album is a way to spell “artistic identity, style, execution and image”. Jack and Lily Wolter are at the opposite of this calculated approach; comforting melancholy is the very heart of their music and everything else is simply a contribution to that feeling. Simply put: Penelope Isles’ music isn’t so much dream-pop as it is dream-music – styles be damned. – Alexis Renaudat
Tracklist:
1. Chlorine
2. Round
3. Not Talking
4. Underwater Record Store
5. Three
6. Gnarbone
7. Leipzig
8. Looking for My Eyes First
9. Cut Your Hair
10. Through the Garden
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