Penelope Isles - Which Way To Happy (LP) - White Vinyl

Drop the needle and Which Way To Happy opens like a window after a storm, bright air rushing in, all gauzy melodies and tidal guitars. Penelope Isles, the Brighton group led by siblings Jack and Lily Wolter, lean into scope on their second LP, and it suits them. The record arrived 5 November 2021 on Bella Union, a fitting home given the label’s taste for dreamy grandeur, and it carries a big-sky shimmer helped along by Dave Fridmann on the mix. If you know his work with The Flaming Lips or MGMT, you’ll hear that familiar sense of height and saturation, only here it wraps around close harmonies and a very human tug-of-war between doubt and hope.

“Sailing Still” sets the tone. It swells patiently, a ripple of guitars keeping time with a heartbeat bassline, Lily’s voice hovering in a way that feels calm and slightly bruised. The song keeps finding small rooms within its own arrangement, then clears them out with one smart, glowing chorus. Fridmann’s touch is there in the way the overtones stack up, but the Wolters never lose the intimacy. You can trace a line from their debut’s DIY charm to this bolder palette, and it feels earned rather than oversized.

“Iced Gems” snaps the tempo forward and shows the band’s pop instincts. It has that crunchy, sugar-rush guitar tone that indie kids chase for years, plus a hook that sticks without leaning on repetition. The percussion nudges everything along, light on its feet, while little synth details bubble up around the edges. It’s one of those tracks that makes you want to see them in a small room, pint glasses rattling on the bar as the chorus lands. “Sudoku,” by contrast, drifts in on a sleepy current, a soft-focus daydream shot through with the kind of lyrical specificity that keeps it grounded. Penelope Isles are good at this push and pull, jumping from widescreen to close-up without losing the plot.

The circumstances behind the record matter to how it feels. After touring their debut, the band decamped from the city and worked in Cornwall while the world shut down. That isolation sneaks into the lyrics, but the music reaches outward. You can tell they wanted songs that breathe. The arrangements give everyone room, then gather force at just the right moment, like surf piling into a break. Jack and Lily trade lead spots and harmonies, and their voices have that sibling blend where you can’t always tell who’s where, only that the combination glows.

Bella Union’s involvement is more than a logo in the corner. The label’s ear for dream-pop and textural indie clearly encouraged the band to stretch, and the results sound confident. Guitars are layered but never muddy, vocals sit high enough to carry the story, and there’s a tactile quality to the low end that rewards a good playback system. On Which Way To Happy vinyl, those layers open up even more. Quiet passages feel quieter, the choruses bloom a little wider, and the saturation has a warm edge you don’t quite get on earbuds.

If you collect Penelope Isles vinyl, this is the one you’ll pull out to convince friends they’re more than a promising new act. It’s the sound of a band growing into its own shape. You can buy Penelope Isles records online pretty easily these days, but I found my copy by accident while flipping through new arrivals at a Melbourne record store, and it felt exactly right to take it home the old-fashioned way. For folks browsing for vinyl records Australia wide, keep an eye out for copies on the Bella Union pressings, which tend to be quiet and well-cut. Penelope Isles albums on vinyl also look great on a shelf, and this one, with its soft, hazy artwork, telegraphs the music inside.

As a front-to-back listen, the album holds its mood without turning samey. The sequencing does a lot of work, giving you a lift when you need it and a place to rest when the glow could get too bright. The writing keeps circling that title question, not in a sloganeering way, but with small observations about staying afloat and finding light. By the time the needle lifts, you feel a kind of steadying calm, the sense that searching is part of the joy.

If dream-pop with teeth is your sweet spot, this belongs next to your Beach House and Mercury Rev records. If you’re new to the band, start here, then double back to the debut to hear how they got there. And if you’re hunting Which Way To Happy vinyl specifically, don’t wait. It’s the sort of record that becomes a quiet favorite, one you lend out and then miss until it comes home again.