PENELOPE ISLES + BOCA JUNIORS – GREEN DOOR STORE, BRIGHTON 18.7.24
Penelope Isles this evening played an extra special intimate show at the Green Door Store featuring the original band members as a celebration of their debut album ‘When Until The Tide Creeps In’ which dropped on 12th July 2019. Track two from the album, ‘Round’, has just been given the remix treatment and the ‘Comfortably Swell Version’ is available HERE.
Tonight there were even a few album cover t-shirts on sale – the pic being of Jack and Lily’s dad Michael on holiday in Portugal – at the merch stall and everyone was in high spirits, especially those that had made their way along to the venue from the nearby Bella Union vinyl shop where there was a pre-gig soirée. The connection being that ‘When Until The Tide Creeps In’ came out on former Cocteau Twin Simon Raymonde’s Bella Union imprint.
The blurb that accompanied the release of the album at the time read as thus:
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. 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.
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.”
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.”
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.
Penelope Isles certainly got out the fireworks for 2021’s Guy Fawkes night as Jack and Lily dropped their second long-player in the form of ‘Which Way To Happy’ which was also on Bella Union. However, before this all happened, we were certainly aware of Penelope Isles on the account of us seeing them performing live on many occasions in 2018, including a headlining performance at the very same Green Door Store on 11th April 2018 where I managed to purchase a copy of their homemade CDR album. You can see a photo of that and read the account of that night HERE.
So back to tonight’s proceedings and not surprisingly it’s a sold out event and the eager punters are packed in like sardines. Penelope Isles grace the stage at 9:12pm and it’s the band’s original lineup of Jack and Lily Wolter who grew up on the Isle Of Man, Jack Sowton from Redhill and Becky Redford from Shoreham. Their set lasts 68 minutes and they play their ‘When Until The Tide Creeps In’ album in its entirety, but not in track order. This concert is a celebration of their debut album, but one in which some of the tunes won’t be played again for a long time. It’s the crossroads in their career as they are going to be working on their new album (their third) come this September.
The intro tape kicks in and already it’s a sweatbox in here. Jack Wolter is to our left on his Fender Telecaster, to the rear of the stage is Jack Sowton behind the drumkit, in front of him is Lily Wolter who is seated and in charge of a couple of keyboards and a xylophone, and to our right is Becky Redford on bass. They kick off with the quiet ‘Looking For Me’ / ‘Eyes Closed’ which is actually tune eight on the album, which is swiftly followed by the uptempo ‘Underwater Record Store’ (tune 4 on the album) and it’s here that I realise that Lily’s vocals are actually the sweetest I’ve ever heard them, having seen them live about 10 times. Jack Wolter, meanwhile, creates a smooth echoey sound with his guitar and briefly also uses a shaker. Suffice to say there’s a deafening roar of approval from the crowd at the song’s conclusion. It’s going very well indeed and the band fed off of this and really look overjoyed at the prospect of delivering some more live cuts this evening to their families, friends and punters in general.
It’s all change for selection three, ‘Chlorine’, as Lily relinquishes vocal duties and switches from keys to using Becky’s bass, and Becky goes on second guitar, and Jack Wolter is on vocals for this jangly guitar pop tune. They keep to this format for ‘Round’, which is delivered very tightly and it’s as though the band haven’t been away! Notably there was quite a bit of singing along from the crowd during this track. After this Jack Wolter dedicated the next song‘ Not Talking’, to support artist Tom. Lily sat back down again behind the keys and used the xylophone for the first time this evening, and Becky was back on bass, and Jack Wolter was on vocal duties again. ‘Leipzig’ was their next selection and Lily dedicated this to “all the new loves” and informing us that since the album was released and since the last time Becky had played with the band that she has got married, and Lily added about her new Irish love, and went on to say that Jack Sowton can now drive! ‘Leipzig’ had some decent guitar riffs going down and Lily’s vocals were sounding great again.
Things got a bit special after this, as they introduced Claus Højensgård (Claus Højensgård Andersen) to the stage along with his flugelhorn. He had come all the way from Copenhagen to play for us! We were then informed that Penelope Isles had met Claus when they played the prestigious ‘Roskilde Festival’ which took place at Dyrskuepladsen, Roskilde, in Denmark. Claus we were told was a music teacher at Sofieklubben, Christianshavn and that he was at Roskilde with his students and after this meeting he had taught his students to play one of the Penelope Isles tunes, which Jack said was, as far as they know, the only Penelope Isles song that’s as yet to be covered. Thus Claus played ‘Three’ with the band this evening and it’s from this point onwards that the performance jumped up a few more notches! Lily and Jack’s joint vocals were an absolute pleasure and the sound was immense and this was one of tonight’s highlights and the best thus far. Claus vacated the stage having received a rapturous applause and in fact each time he played his flugelhorn, there were whoops from the crowd. Well worth the trip across from Copenhagen I’d say!
It was now time for the jaunty ‘Cut Your Hair’, where Lily was back on bass and Becky on guitar and Jack on vocals, and the girls “oooo oooo” joint backing vocals were oh sooo dreamy for the decent psych number. The sedate ‘Through The Garden’ was their next offering and one which Lily informed us was penned about “coming home to my mummy and daddy”. This then segues straight into THE Penelope Isles anthem, and my fave tune of theirs, namely ‘Gnarbone’ which is as great as any krautrock anthem out there. The quartet seriously rocked on out and the tune still carried its false ending and they bounced back again, it truly is an explosive number and true to form the hairs up my arms and on the back of my neck literally tingled! And that was it, all of the songs from the album had been played and they left the stage with massive beaming smiles across their faces and to deafening applause!
The crowd carried on cheering, which I thought was kind but misled as Penelope Isles don’t do encores, especially after hitting the dizzy heights of ‘Gnarbone’. But hold on a minute……….a couple of minutes later siblings Jack and Lily DID come back on stage whilst drummer Jack and guitarist Becky watched from the side wing. This very much had the feeling of a rebirth of the band as the core sibling duo quietly performed a couple of as yet unreleased cuts from the forthcoming third platter, these being ‘Embo’ and ‘Pretty In Pixels’ which segued into each other! The harmonies between the brother and sister were fabulous, and I kept switching from line to line from watching one to the other. At 10:20pm that was our lot! Something very special had gone down tonight. You never know they might do the same in two years time in order to celebrate the fifth anniversary of their ‘Which Way To Happy’ album. Fingers crossed that we get to see the band live before then, but they always seem to be busying themselves with other projects, like Jack producing other artists and Lily sharing a stage with dance legends Orbital.
Penelope Isles:
Jack Wolter – vocals, guitar, shaker
Lily Wolter – vocals, keys, bass, xylophone
Becky Redford – bass, guitar, backing vocals
Jack Sowton – drums, backing vocals
Claus Højensgård – flugelhorn
Penelope Isles setlist:
‘Looking For Me’ / ‘Eyes Closed’ (from 2019 ‘Until The Tide Creeps In’ album)
‘Underwater Record Store’ (from 2019 ‘Until The Tide Creeps In’ album)
‘Chlorine’ (from 2019 ‘Until The Tide Creeps In’ album)
‘Round’ (from 2019 ‘Until The Tide Creeps In’ album)
‘Not Talking’ (from 2019 ‘Until The Tide Creeps In’ album)
‘Leipzig’ (from 2019 ‘Until The Tide Creeps In’ album)
‘Three’ (from 2019 ‘Until The Tide Creeps In’ album)
‘Cut Your Hair’ (from 2019 ‘Until The Tide Creeps In’ album)
‘Through The Garden’ (from 2019 ‘Until The Tide Creeps In’ album)
‘Gnarbone’ (from 2019 ‘Until The Tide Creeps In’ album)
(encore)
‘Embo’ (unreleased)
‘Pretty In Pixels’ (unreleased)
Support this evening came from Boca Juniors which is not Alexis MacAllister’s old Argentinian football club, but the brand new side project of punk poet, performer and community worker Tom Stockley aka T.S. IDIOT.
Since 2013, Tom has been writing and performing across the UK, as well as working closely with community groups and young people. As a writer and artist they have produced work for BBC Arts, UNESCO and The Tate. In 2023 their short film ‘Salt In The Wounds’ was shortlisted for the national Outspoken Prize for Poetry in Film and their short play ‘All The Things I Said’ was shortlisted for the Pomegranate Theatre Prize. They have had work previously published in anthologies by Howling Press, Perennial Press, Renard Press and Ample Collective (among others). They have also published their debut poetry collection ‘Back To The Fuchsia’, published by Arkbound.
Tom’s connection with Penelope Isles is that they (Tom) also used to put on the occasional gig and festival around the time when Penelope Isles were getting their act together and Tom (who was and still is Jack & Lily’s friend) talked Penelope Isles into playing a few times at his events, although these apparently weren’t a great success. But here is a key indication of how Tom rolls, as there are certainly no delusions of grandeur with this person, if fact he kindly wrote out tonight’s setlist for me on the back of one of his plastic stickers, the front of which has an artwork (more than likely by Tom) with the words “i saw boca juniors and they were shit”.
Tom was therefore not setting the bar too high for this evening’s 29 minute performance which ran from 8:17pm until 8:46pm. In fact this evening is only the second Boca Juniors performance, so it’s not going to be polished in any way, but we can easily see past that. Photographer Sara and myself walked through the dividing curtain from the bar area into the performance room and were surprisingly the very first punters to do so. This was ideal as we had some banter with Tom, who was seated behind his laptop and clad in white, including a Lidl t-shirt and most noticeably a white knitted style face covering with some hanging tassels, which is exactly the thing that Lynks wears for his performances. I informed Tom of my observation, which really pleased him as he was a fan.
Our banter had delayed the start a little, but this didn’t matter as there was not a knock on effect. Tom got onto the mic and called the punters to attend and slowly and surely they dutifully obliged. Although at this time during proceedings, there was not the full capacity that there was later for Penelope Isles, there were quite a number of inquisitive folk standing and wondering what was going to happen.
Tom explained that he was going to do some poems and songs for us and that he got the sounds from weird charity shop instruments and also the Internet, which sounded as intriguing as Tom’s look. He informed us that he played his first gig as Boca Juniors just a few weeks ago, and so the room also knew what to expect. Tom begins with a poem titled ‘All My Dreams Are Dead’ which we are told was about going back home to his parents house and seeing the grave of his guinea pig. ‘Pink Plastic Plate’ followed and was a song which very much reminded me of the very first Soft Cell demo recordings that went on to become the ‘Mutant Moments’ EP which came out in 1980. The vocal delivery was talky style and the backing was electronic. Selection three was another spoken tune titled ‘Dead Cat Song’ which Tom informs us was penned in a pub whilst studying the wording on the side of a tin of cat food…as you do! He dedicated it to Yuki, the cat in question.
Next up came ‘Post-It Notes’ – although I thought I heard it as ‘Walking With Therapy’, anyway moving on – which benefited from a decent synth backing and Tom added rather dramatic shouting in a yearning style vocals atop, after which Tom informed us that someone had referred to this song as being “Poundland Gary Numan!” and you know what, I think Tom will take that! This was the best number so far….said the Numan fan! ‘Walking The Cow’ was upon us and is almost in faster rave territory and the Marc Almond (Soft Cell) talky vocal style is back for this number. This was another decent tune, but then Tom puts himself down again on its conclusion by stating “They say the best musicians make it look easy but I make it look hard.” Cue a number of “ahhhs” from the growing crowd. Selection six was ‘Boyfriend At The Disco’ which was a slower number and one no doubt Tom’s boyfriend (who was present) enjoyed.
‘Premiere Stores’ was the next choice and was written about going to the corner shop. This was a poem which was delivered with a constant drone backing. The penultimate selection was ‘Sag Harbor, Long Island’ which we were informed was about “having a lovely plop in the sea!”. Tom tells us that he resides in New Brighton which is also by the sea and that this poem is about his favourite artist Ray Johnson, more on him HERE. ‘Sag Harbor, Long Island’ had a spoken lyric with “wowha wowha” keys backing and included the choice line “Dance like Ian Curtis”..cue “Dance, dance, dance, dance, dance, to the radio”. This was to have been the end of the set, but the punters were now well behind Tom and honestly wanted more. He gave in and delivered a one minute poem titled ‘Space Monkeys’ which Tom informs us was written about all the chimpanzee’s that were sent into space and wondering where they are now. Another death related subject.
Despite the choice of Tom’s subject matter at times, which really wasn’t that dark, but possibly comedic take on things, I reckon he would go down rather well on one of the smaller stages at Pride festival. How about it then? Clearly Tom is a sensitive complex character, but one you can see has a heart of gold and I totally get why Jack and Lily asked him to support them this evening. At present Tom sadly doesn’t have any more performances currently slotted in, but I hope that he certainly rectifies this, as Britain needs to find out about this loveable eccentric! It takes one to know one x
Boca Juniors:
Tom Stockley – vocals, laptop
Boca Juniors setlist:
‘All My Dreams Are Dead’
‘Pink Plastic Plate’
‘Dead Cat Song’
‘Post-It Notes’
‘Walking The Cow’
‘Boyfriend At The Disco’
‘Premiere Stores’
‘Sag Harbor, Long Island’
‘Space Monkeys’
