Rise

Format

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  SHAPE020CD  £10.00

Label

Turnstile

Islet

Illuminated People

Those familiar with Welsh experimental pop quartet Islet, will know by now that they are no normal band. Their output so far, two mini albums Celebrate This Place and Wimmy, are not only abnormal but extremely worthy. Celebrate This Place was a more percussive noisy lo-fi affair based around complex rhythmic structures and psychedelic notions of “Holly in your mind” not to mention the bizarre animal noises showcased on ‘We Shall Visit’. While Wimmy was equally askew and experimental with its clanking drums, repetitious choruses and the band’s almighty impassioned manifestations of the songs at their live shows, which had many a punter either enraptured or simply taken aback by the bands dynamism.

‘Illuminated People’ is for the large part more restrained on the energy front. Instead however, Islet’s profound love of experimentation isn’t simply jammed out continuously in noisy blasts, but is more honed and concentrated into soundscapes and concepts, yet thankfully is made no less engaging.

Perhaps most surprising of all on Illuminated People however isn’t the plethora of bonkers ideas but the moments Islet actually take a moment to strip back and slow down on tracks like ‘We Bow’. It’s in stark contrast to the other tracks with pained vocals and gentle guitar plucks, but oddly enough is one of the albums standouts and proof if any that Islet can turn their hand to pretty much anything and manage to keep it fresh and distinctively by Islet.

Tracklist

• 'Libra Man'
  'This Fortune'
  'Entwined Pines'
  'What We Done Wrong'
  'A Warrior Who Longs To'
  'Grow Herbs'
  'We Bow'
  'Filia'
  'Funicular'
  'Shores'
  'A Bear On His Own'