Sadly there are no robot penguins in sight

II is the self-recorded and self-produced second album from Dublin band Electric Penguins. Mark Cummins and Paul Murphy are the only two members, but between them contribute in a huge way, vocally and musically. Between them they boast an incredible range of instrumental skills like the mellotron, piano, guitar, bass, flute, tin drum and English horn to name but a few.

The opening track, Minutes, sets the tone of the album. It’s very rhythmic but simple as if the music beats out the first few nervous steps into the album. It builds gradually to a wonderfully layered mesh of instruments. This is followed by Julia Stephens (Introduction), which leads into Julia Stephens which is over 6 minutes long. It’s a very slow song and towards the end there is a long section with no lyrics and a collection different instruments repeating the same few bars of music. The album started on a high so this really broke the flow a bit. it seemed self-indulgent, bordering on boring which made the next track, Highgate Hill, all the more surprising.
 

Highgate Hill is the first single to be released from the album and is described by the band as being Lou Reed’s “Walk On The Wildside”‘ meets the 80′s electro classic It’s Immaterial’s “Driving Away From Home”. It’s written as a train of thought as the singer wanders through London: "Think I'll take, think I'll take that shortcut, think I'll take that shortcut again..." It was recently chosen as one of the tracks which will feature on the new edition of MUSIC WEEK UK Magazine's compilation album. It’s a beautifully layered song. As it builds, more instruments are introduced, including a guitar playing a melody, which turns out to be the chorus. The two singers switch seamlessly between their sections, it feels like the song is telling a story throughout.

Always, Always is a very sweet ballad. It’s very simply arranged but incredibly beautiful. It begins with just piano and vocals, but builds up gradually and around 4 minutes reaches a crescendo of a few different instruments. Again there’s long periods of lyrics but it doesn’t feel as slow or as repetitive than Julia Stephens. It’s a little more up-tempo with the addition of some effects and drums.

19 Winters feels almost out of place on the album. Instead of the soft acoustic songs before, it’s more up-tempo and electronic, and wouldn’t be out of place in an 8-bit computer game soundtrack. Self Portrait (Angie’s Song) winds the album down with droning synths and violins. It doesn’t end on a high, but it makes you want to go back and rediscover your favourite parts of the album. 

II is a really impressive album, it’s beautifully arranged, and listening to it you get the impression that you're experiencing something very special. The instruments are wonderfully layered but there’s not a tambourine shake or synth echo out of place. It doesn’t have a very definitive sound, which makes it really quite charming. It has the same sophisticated strangeness of early David Bowie and the emotion and appeal of Sigur Ros.

Instead of writing to a formula, Electric Penguins have thrown the rule book out the window.

II will be available to buy on CD from October 8th.

The first single from the album, Highgate Hill is available now on iTunes.

Electric Penguins also have a few upcoming live shows:

Friday 8th October: The Sweeney Mongrel, HWCH Festival at 10:15pm
Saturday 9th October: Tower In-Store at 2pm

Jane Ward