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Track Listings
| 1. Libra Man |
| 2. This Fortune |
| 3. Entwined Pines |
| 4. What We Done Wrong |
| 5. A Warrior Who Longs To |
| 6. Grow Herbs |
| 7. We Bow |
| 8. Filia |
| 9. Funicular |
| 10. Shores |
| 11. A Bear On His Own |
Product Description
Review
As the latest quest to save guitar music trundles along – with pundits lighting the distress beacons and hunting in all manner of nooks and crannies for the next riff-chugging bunch to anoint as saviours – it’s worth positing whether we really need another Learn Three Chords, Start A Band type to rush to the rescue. Cardiff’s Islet, you imagine, would certainly argue that inspiration and innovation can come from far more varied sources than dusty old amps and second-hand Ramones CDs. Last year’s Celebrate This Place and Wimmy EPs showcased how raucously bonkers their wares could be, touching upon influences ranging from Pavement to Gang Gang Dance; now, they’ve rolled up all their eclectic weirdness into one ball for debut full-length Illuminated People, which is brimming with a knack for oddball soundscapes akin to a hybrid of Can and These New Puritans.
Opener Libra Man, for example, is the boldest of opening gambits, kicking off with a jerky, serrated electronic riff that’s bolstered by tribal drums, before blossoming into staccato hiccoughs of freaky noises which unfold over nine minutes. Yet things take an immediate volte-face for This Fortune, a brutal slow-burner that’s built upon dank, growling guitars and Emma Daman’s voice, which switches between disconcerting cooing and frenzied yelping.
In less-skilled hands, such a mad professor approach to experimenting could risk being alienating, but Illuminated People is never indecipherable; indeed, We Bow is a disarmingly sweet and simple heartfelt ditty that’s furnished by the heartfelt desire to "dive into your world with you". And for all the strangeness of Entwined Pines, it’s still a pop song – one with an eerie, chiming melody seemingly pilfered from David Lynch’s ice cream van, perhaps, but a pop song nonetheless, with a swooping melody and sing-along chorus.
Other highlights include the shimmering pitter-patter of A Warrior Who Longs to Grow Herbs and the psychedelic, off-kilter rhythms of Funicular, but it’s closing track A Bear on His Own that neatly encapsulates what makes Islet so vital. Boasting an electro riff reminiscent of a demented fairground attraction, it eventually erupts into a discordant mixture of bizarre choral chanting and splinters of tumbling scree that are equal-parts decadent and delightful. Forget power-chords and delving into guitar music’s annals; something as thoroughly modern, and bizarrely brilliant, as Illuminated People needs to be savoured as much as possible.
--Ben Hewitt
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
CD Description
'Illuminated People' follows 2010's rapturously received pair of EPs - 'Celebrate This Place' and 'Wimmy' - which the NME described as being "a sonic boom in the face to anyone who might have thought they had something to hide". A group who work under a strict autonomy, this is, as a result, their most cohesive sounding work to date.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Lost in the shuffle would be the best way to describe this album, amongst the bigger releases I almost completely overlooked this album despite the material I had heard being rather good. So what is this album like? Well it's hard to say really, it takes it's sound from many mourish tasty pies from the Reggae, Electronic, Indie Pop, Noise & the like & it's all very catchy, the album arguably opens with it's weakest cut the overlong 'Libra Man' starts off well enough but it eventually reveals it's self as a bit meandering, thankfully this isn't a problem the rest of the album faces and what you get is hooks galore, great vocal variety & some sweet harmonies! 'Entwined Pines' sounds all very Why? in the chorus until the noisy guitars come crashing in, 'What We Done Wrong' is a fantastic pop number, 'Shores' is a vocal harmony master-class channelling Merriweather Post Pavillion and the closer has a very The Fall like hook to it, what this album is is one that never lets go of your interest and it's very accomplished in what it does... it covers a lot of ground and does it very well & I highly recommend the album.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Islet are a band that you can't really classify. Eccentric, eclectic, talented and Welsh might be a good place to start. One of the few bands in the UK who are trying to do something different. Listening to this album you will hear references of good old pop, psychedelic rock, classic rock, jazz, etc. It has up tempo track more melodic tracks and tracks that are both. It probably wont appeal to all but it is a grower give it a chance and you may be rewarded.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
Powerful, strange, diverse, confident indie pop/post-rock
23 Mar 2012
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
An odd one here, 3rd release from this band out of Wales. Powerful, strange, diverse and
confident--this is truly innovative indie pop/post-rock that uses an amazing variety of
approaches: tremolo guitar feedback, washes of white noise & crowd chants, fragmentary
bursts of synthesizer oscillation, no-wave jungle percussion, simultaneous harmonic and atonal
sounds, acoustic backroom folk picking, gentle electronics & distorted guitars then gentle guitars
and distorted electronics, eclectic indie pop structures, 60s style psychedelic chords, sonic
surprise stylistic collages. One of the most interesting, refreshing & cohesive pieces of
experimental pop/rock that I've heard in a long time. A real treat for open ears. Although it
sounds like none of these; it reminds me of Public Image LTD, My Bloody Valentine, Can, Slapp
Happy, the Mute Drivers, the Pop Group, Deerhoof, the Books, Teeth of the Sun. Excellent!
confident--this is truly innovative indie pop/post-rock that uses an amazing variety of
approaches: tremolo guitar feedback, washes of white noise & crowd chants, fragmentary
bursts of synthesizer oscillation, no-wave jungle percussion, simultaneous harmonic and atonal
sounds, acoustic backroom folk picking, gentle electronics & distorted guitars then gentle guitars
and distorted electronics, eclectic indie pop structures, 60s style psychedelic chords, sonic
surprise stylistic collages. One of the most interesting, refreshing & cohesive pieces of
experimental pop/rock that I've heard in a long time. A real treat for open ears. Although it
sounds like none of these; it reminds me of Public Image LTD, My Bloody Valentine, Can, Slapp
Happy, the Mute Drivers, the Pop Group, Deerhoof, the Books, Teeth of the Sun. Excellent!
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