Tickets for the tour are on sale now!
Penelope Isles-the project of UK-born and bred siblings, co-songwriters and co-vocalists Lily and Jack Wolter-released their sophomore album Which Way To Happy a few weeks ago, and today they announce their U.S. tour in support of the record.
The band's stateside return will be the first leg of label Bella Union's 25th Anniversary year, and will have Norwegian's brilliant POM POKO as special guests on all the shows. Bella Union-home to Beach House, Flaming Lips, Father John Misty, Ezra Furman, Spiritualized, Mercury Rev, John Grant, Tim Burgess, Patti Smith and The Soundwalk Collective, Midlake, I Break Horses, Jonathan Wilson, and more-is run by former Cocteau Twins' Simon Raymonde who signed Penelope Isles after seeing them play in his home town of Brighton in England. Tickets go on-sale here at 11AM EST - see below to find a show near you.
To celebrate the tour announcement, Penelope Isles share a music video for "Have You Heard." Written by Lily and inspired by labelmates The Flaming Lips, "Have You Heard" receives a great narrative meets live-performance video in black and white, helmed by renowned director Jamie Thraves (Radiohead's "Just" and Coldplay's "The Scientist"). watch!
Which Way To Happy-Penelope Isles' sophomore album which was produced by Jack and mixed by Dave Fridmann-is out via Bella Union. Jack and Lily spent much of 2019 driving through Europe and America with their bandmates, and, like many, felt everything was falling apart when COVID-19 put their upcoming plans to a halt. The duo, dealing with their own respective romantic heartaches, and coping with the loss of two band members, were staying in a small cottage in Cornwall to start work on the new album when lockdown began.
Claustrophobia kicked in, existential anxiety over the pandemic permeated everything, and emotions ran high. "We were there for about two or three months, ultimately," says Jack. "It was a tiny cottage and we all went a bit bonkers, and we drank far too much, and it spiralled a bit out of control. There were a lot of emotional evenings and realisations, which I think reflects in the songs. Writing and recording new music was a huge part of the recovery process for all of us."
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 it's OK to not be OK. Pitched between fertile coastal metaphors and winged melodies, intimate confessions and expansive cosmic pop, it transforms "difficult second album" clichés into a thing of glorious contrasts: a second-album surge of up-close, heartfelt intimacies and expansive, experimental vision.
3/5/2022 - Washington DC - Songbyrd*^
3/7/2022 - Allston, MA - Brighton Music Hall*^
3/8/2022 - Philadelphia, PA - The Foundry at The Fillmore*^
3/9/2022 - Brooklyn, NY - Zone One at Elsewhere*#
3/11/22 - Toronto, ON - Hard Luck Bar*^
3/12/22 - Pontiac, MI - The Pike Room at The Crofoot*^
3/14/22 - Chicago, IL - Cobra Lounge*^
3/15/22 - St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway*^
3/20/22 - Dallas, TX - The Cambridge Room at House of Blues*^
3/23/22 - Phoenix, AZ - Rebel Lounge*^
3/24/22 - Santa Ana, CA - Constellation Room*^
3/25/22 - Los Angeles, CA - Moroccan Lounge*^
3/26/22 - San Francisco, CA - Brick + Mortar*^
3/28/22 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore Cabaret*^
3/29/2022 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios*^
3/30/2022 - Seattle, WA - Madame Lou's at The Crocodile*
* w/ Pomo Poko
^ w/ Me Rex
# w/ youbet
Watch the new music video here:
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