Penelope Isles – Which Way to Happy

Description

When youre trying to make it through tough times, you need a little light to find your way. That light blazes brightly on the alchemical second album from Penelope Isles, an album forged amid emotional upheaval and band changes. Setting the uncertainties of twentysomething life to alt-rock and psychedelic songs brimming with life, colour and feeling, Which Way to Happy emerges as a luminous victory for Jack and Lily Wolter, the siblings whose bond holds the band tight at its core.

Produced by Jack and mixed by US alt-rock legend Dave Fridmann, the result is an intoxicating leap forward for the Brighton-based band, following the calling-card DIY smarts of their 2019 debut, Until the Tide Creeps In. Sometimes it swoons, sometimes it soars. Sometimes it says its OK to not be OK. And sometimes it says its OK to look for the way to happy, too. Pitched between fertile coastal metaphors and winged melodies, intimate confessionals and expansive cosmic pop, deep sorrows and serene soul-pop pick-you-ups, it transforms difficult second album clichs into a thing of glorious contrasts: a second-album surge of up-close, heartfelt intimacies and expansive, experimental vision.

At different point along the way, Jack Sowton and Becky Redford left the Isles. An old friend, multi-instrumentalist Henry Nicholson, stepped in swiftly A godsend after a low time, says Lily. Another friend, Hannah Feenstra, contributed drum parts; now, Joe Taylor is the bands drummer. After Cornwall, the band redid many of the rhythm tracks, recorded a little in Brighton, then recorded more in Cornwall at their parents house. It was, says Jack, a proper rollercoaster ride.

The ride continued with Fridmann, whose recent credits include Isles favourites Mogwais No 1 album, As the Love Continues. As Lily puts it, the process of sending Fridmann a mix, receiving it back in the morning and then having five hours to make decisions on it resulted first in stress, then in something sublime. I love everything hes touched MGMT, Mogwai, Mercury Rev. He would turn our mix into this electric, fiery thing. There were some moments that were initially hard, like on Miss Moon, where he took out the bass when it gets to the chorus. But now its my favourite bit on the record. He made everything so colourful. Its an intense-sounding record a hot record. It was so refreshing to have that blast of energy from Dave its like he framed our pictures.

Theres so much love between me and Jack, we couldnt do it without each other, says Lily. And even in that chaotic, tiny bubble of a cottage that sent us all mad, we had some really funny, stupid, lovely times together. Theres a lot of emotion in the album. Wherever Penelope Isles go from here, that guiding emotional compass couldnt be more finely attuned.

Tracklist

1. Terrified
2. Rocking At The Bottom
3. Play It Cool
4. Iced Gems
5. Sailing Still
6. Miss Moon
7. Sudoku
8. Have You Heard
9. Pink Lemonade
10. 11 11
11. In A Cage