Penelope Isles
Until the Tide Creeps In
Release Date: Jul 12, 2019
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock
Record label: Bella Union
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Album Review: Until the Tide Creeps In by Penelope Isles
Great, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 4/5
Brighton quartet Penelope Isles - centred around the brother/ sister duo of Jack and Lily Wolter - have never been particularly ‘cool’. Favouring pure melodies, and the classic, harmony-laden sensibilities of bands like The Thrills over the grungy riffs of many of their town’s fellow bands of note, it’s a viewpoint that’s made them hard to place in 2019. Yet, on their debut, shying away from any kind of pigeonholing is a trait that works in their favour; moving between the heady sonic embrace of early track ‘Round’, ‘Not Talking”s fragile, swelling croon and the bigger, denser build of ‘Gnarbone’, it means the band can go wherever they like.
Based on rating 8/10
Raised on the Isle of Man, English siblings Jack and Lily Wolter both started writing songs and playing in bands during their teens, but with a six-year age difference, more often separately than together. After Lily graduated from music school in Brighton, her older brother joined her there, and they formed Penelope Isles, eventually expanding the duo to a four-piece. Drawing on '90s and 2000s influences spanning lo-fi, jagged alt-rock, and dream pop, including experimental acts like Radiohead and Deerhunter, they fashioned an intriguing guitar-based song palette.
Based on rating 7.5/10
It's a fitting image for the Brighton band's full-length release, which builds the band's base solidly on ten beautifully familiar and welcoming songs that centre around the dynamics of family and drift comfortably into imagery of water and the sea. Growing up on the Isle of Man, Jack & Lily lost touch as many pairs of siblings inevitably do when the older, Jack, moved to university. Reconnecting as adults years later in Brighton, where Lily had moved to to study songwriting, Jack began playing with his sister and her bandmates Becky Redford and Jack Sowton, fusing their distinct songwriting styles as Penelope Isles .
Based on rating 3.5
Family plays a bigger part than you first realise in one of Brighton's most heralded upcoming bands. Named after songwriting siblings' Jack and Lily Wolter's mother, quartet Penelope Isles complete the family affair by featuring their father on the cover of their debut album Until The Tide Creeps In. Originally from the Isle of Man, the pair were first separated when Jack headed off to Uni, but it was when Lily moved to Brighton that wheels set in motion for the band.
'Until the Tide Creeps In'
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