Penryn: Angel Wing EP

I am about to commit a cardinal sin for music journalists. I am about to write about a record and act that I know absolutely nothing about.

Often I am the recipient of long and gushing emails shouting the delights of a band’s new release, each one trying to shout louder than the previous email, emails full of links, pictures, graphics and, in some cases, even large MP3 attachments.

I do try to listen to as many as possible, although there are some that contain phrases that put me off even trying. Progressive folk grunge anyone? No, me neither.

But sometimes, I will click on a link and become enthralled by the music that pours out of my speakers as a result. And in the latest instance of this happening, the link and the music is all I have to go on.

This is the case with the new Angel Wing EP from Penryn. I know that Penryn are from Bristol and that they count amongst their influences Burial and Ross From Friends, and that Google tells me their name is taken from a Cornish town, but other than that, Penryn are a delightfully unknown quantity to me.

This air of enigma actually works well with Penryn and their music, something that does not wear a human face and instead conjures up images of futuristic dreamscapes. Contradictorily, this music also invokes a nostalgia in me, triggering memories of after parties in the 90s when, not yet ready or able to sleep, we would chill out to what was called ‘intelligent techno’ while we came down.

The likes of Autechre, Black Dog and Aphex Twin were the perfect accompaniment to this, not too frantic, not too chilled and with enough going on to satisfy our still firing synapses.

To this grand tradition, we can now add Penryn. Their Angel Wing EP would have fit perfectly well into our Sunday morning sessions and smoothed our progress back down to earth beautifully.

Angel Wing starts with the slightly off key arpeggios of She Could Not Hear The Singing, the tone and effects giving the song’s intro a slightly skewed sound. Ominous bass pulses add weight to the sound and with only occasional hints of percussion, it has an ambient air. It is the speed of the keyboard riff that stops that and provides an intense air that lifts it above being ambient and makes it something more substantial.

The sound is less smoothed out than some of the acts mentioned above and, given the advances in recording technology since, we can only assume this is deliberate. Penryn have rough edges to their sound that gives it an edge, stops it being too chilled out.

Amen Reload starts with what sounds like foreign voices recorded from shortwave radio before off kilter beats kick in. Attention is paid to all ends of the sound spectrum, with rumbling bass frequencies at the bottom end and keyboard riffs at the top providing melody. This all adds up to a sound that is deceptively full, busy but still somehow minimal.

The strangely named Freckles, Teeth, Gums, And Blood again features busy sounds without ever becoming heavy. Skittering percussion stops and starts, and a four-to-the-floor bass drum makes this the most dancefloor friendly track so far. It is still cleverly thought out and unconventional, clearly a lot of thought has gone into the construction of these songs.

Pantheist Catalyst starts out quiet and brooding before layers of more odd and syncopated rhythms kick in. The music behind these beats is lush and calm, and the juxtaposing of these two disparate elements is something that takes skill and ability to pull off. It is also further proof that those who initially decried electronic music as being unemotional were far, far off the mark. The music here is as emotive as any I have heard and pulls at the heartstrings.

Last track Dream By River again starts of quietly, floating us down a stream of lush, atmospheric keyboards. This time there is no percussion to lift us from our dream-like reverie, only soothing resonances to calmly bring us down. In this respect, the whole EP is like our after sessions in microcosm, finishing in a suitable manner.

I don’t know if there are any other records by Penryn that I can now hunt for, but you can rest assured that I will be looking out for them.

Penryn are an unexpected treasure.

Angel Wing is out now via Duckland. Purchase from Bandcamp.