Penelope Isles

Drawing from the sounds of Pavement, Radiohead, and Deerhunter, the Brighton quartet Penelope Isles craft exploratory yet hook-driven noise pop marked by rich harmonies. Their first full-length effort, Until the Tide Creeps In, arrived in 2019, and the even denser, more introspective Which Way to Happy followed in 2021.

What began as a sibling project took shape once Jack and Lily Wolter reconvened in Brighton after separate stretches of study. The elder by six years, Jack—born in Devon and raised on the Isle of Man—had already completed an art degree elsewhere when Lily, who had started composing and performing in groups, moved to the coastal city to enroll in BIMM’s songwriting program. The pair first collaborated under the name Your Gold Teeth before establishing Penelope Isles and issuing the 2015 EP Comfortably Swell. They completed the lineup with bassist Becky Redford and drummer Jack Sowton, both previously in bands with Lily, and soon embarked on tours supporting the Magic Numbers, British Sea Power, and Lost Horizons, the project led by Bella Union founder Simon Raymonde. The label released the Jack Wolter-produced debut album Until the Tide Creeps In in July 2019.

In early 2020 the band was halfway through a sold-out North American run with Wallows when the pandemic halted travel, prompting the Wolters to retreat to a cottage in Cornwall where they concentrated on new material. Redford and Sowton departed soon afterward; Henry Nicholson on bass and Hannah Feenstra on drums joined for the recording sessions, though Joe Taylor assumed the drum chair before the album appeared. Shaped by the isolation and unease of that time, Which Way to Happy surfaced in late 2021, incorporating string arrangements by composer Fiona Brice and a mix by Dave Fridmann, the alt-rock veteran known for his work with Mercury Rev and the Flaming Lips.