Penelope Isles announce debut album “Until The Tide Creeps In” released 12th July via Bella Union
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For every sibling band forged in
Formed around the chemistry between dual brother-sister 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. To celebrate the announcement, Penelope Isles have shared a captivating mixed media video for current single “Chlorine”, incorporating old b/w footage and puppet animation, which can be viewed HERE. The band
Crisp and woozy, blissful and biting, Until the Tide Creeps In is 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.”
Such themes run deep on album opener ‘Chlorine’. Between its beatific surface calm and emotional rip-tides, choppy guitars and sailing harmonies, it’s an immersive invitation to the Isles’ pool party: the first of several on an album that creates its own world and navigates it fluently, tugging you in further with every current.
That fluency takes the form of a wicked way with melody on ‘Round’, a snappy riff on romantic compulsion with an undertow of whammy-bar cool. ‘Not Talking’ resembles the result of a dip in Perth’s indie-psych waters, there to bond with early Tame Impala; meanwhile, coastal metaphors and indie-rock romanticism merge to
As Jack puts it, nice and succinctly, “It’s cool to have two songwriters in the band because I love her songs so much!” Born in Devon and raised on the Isle of Man, the Wolters’ bonds were strengthened by separation when Jack moved away to study art at university at 19. As he puts it, wryly, “By the time I moved home Lily was not so much of an annoying younger sister anymore and had grown up and started playing in bands and writing songs. We soon became very close. I had written some songs, so we started a band called Your Gold Teeth. We toured a bit and then Lily left for Brighton to study songwriting. A couple of years later I moved down and we started Penelope Isles together.”
The quartet is completed by Jack Sowton and Becky Redford, who studied music and played in a three-piece with Lily in Brighton. When Lily came home for holidays, the idea of forming a new band rapidly developed. Though Jack and Lily write separately, their disparate songs were chucked into a shared pot and Penelope Isles surfaced, fuelled by a passion for DIY alt-rock and all those who sail its seas: Pavement, Deerhunter, Pixies and Tame Impala number among notable influences, alongside Radiohead and The Thrills.
Produced by Jack, the album was co-mixed by Iggy B (whose credits include The Duke Spirit, John Grant, Spiritualized and Lost Horizons) in London’s Bella Studios with a homegrown aesthetic and live clarity as guiding principles. The Line of Best Fit, DIY and Steve Lamacq (who hosted a recent Isles’ gig at SXSW for BBC6 Music) have all championed Isles’ bracing live form, where ‘Gnarbone’ has emerged as a show-stopper. “I wrote that song in a tiny cupboard room when I lived in Cornwall,” says Jack, “and it’s funny to think how it’s grown into such a beast.” From close-knit family ties to world stages, Penelope Isles’ growth curve is fast becoming a surge.
Until the Tide Creeps In is released 12th July via Bella Union. Album artwork, tracklisting and upcoming UK live perfomances below:
Wednesday 17th April – London – Moth Club
Saturday 27th April – Reading – Are You Listening
Saturday 4th May – Liverpool – Liverpool Sound City
Sunday 5th May – Manchester – Sounds From The Other City
Tuesday 7th May – Paris – Le Supersonic
Thursday 9th May – Brighton – The Great Escape
Friday 10th May – Brighton – The Alternative Escape
Saturday 11th May – The Great Escape
Thursday 16th May – FOCUS Wales
Friday 24th May – Amsterdam – London Calling
Saturday 15th June – Maastricht – Transformer Festival
Tuesday 25th June – Kiel – FahrradKinoKombinat
Wednesday 26th June – Berlin – Urban Spree
Sunday 30th June – Offenbach – Hafen 2
Saturday 6th July – Six Fours Les Plages – Festival Pointu
Friday 26th July – Topcliffe – Deer Shed Festival
Sunday 11th August – Cornwall – Boardmasters
Friday 16th August –
Saturday 17th August – Hasselt – Pukkelpop
Sunday 22nd September – Rotterdam – V11
Tuesday 24th September – Frankfurt – The Cave
Wednesday 25th September – Dresden – Ostpol
Thursday 26th September – Leipzig – Nochbesserleben
Sunday 29th September – Karlsruhe – P8
Saturday 9th November – Reykjavik – Iceland Airwaves
Monday 25th November – Guildford – The Boileroom
Tuesday 26th November – Cambridge – Portland Arms
Wednesday 27th November – Dublin – Whelan’s
Sunday 1st December – Newcastle – Cluny 2
Monday 2nd December – Glasgow – Hug & Pint
Tuesday 3rd December – York – The Fulford Arms
Wednesday 4th December – Leicester – The Cookie
Friday 6th December – Bristol – Rough Trade Bristol
Until the Tide Creeps In tracklist:
1. Chlorine
2. Round
3. Not Talking
4. Underwater Record Store
5. Three
6. Gnarbone
7. Lepizig
8. Looking For My Eyes First
9. Cut Your Hair
10. Through The Garden
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