The Penelopes ..

Summerdew Avenue – The Penelopes ( Vaudeville Park Records)

Super catchy indie pop from Japanese combo The Penelopes who take Motown, Paul McCartney and the indie guitar of the Smiths and paint an upbeat picture of clear skies, gentle breezes and warm summer sun. Summerdew Avenue is the second album of The Penelopes seasonal suite, (but their seventh album overall), and as one would expect, there are bright tunes aplenty on this finely crafted album. The Penelopes is the project fronted by independently minded multi-instrumentalist Tatsuhiko Watanabe with partner in crime Chigusa Miyata on bass (who also plays with mod/jazz combo Les Cappuccino..

‘Melt The Snow' opens up the album and is a sugar shaking delight and gets Summerdew Avenue off to a pop explosion. ‘Melt The Snow' is a perfect summery tune that will get you grooving and put a spring in your step. A psychedelic riff opens into ‘1983' as Tatsuhiko reminiscences about the summer of that particular year and the difficulties of love and relationships. The grooving rhythm and shimmering Johnny Marr style guitars breeze along to the soul shuffling beat. One of the albums highlights is the strident pop of ‘Nondisclosure' with an instantly hum-able melody that would Paul McCartney would approve of. ‘Nondisclosure' is a superb pop song about a shrinking violet who everybody wants to see blossom into a wonderful flower. The interweaving of the vocals toward the end of the tunes adds more bounce to this already great tune.

The Smiths style laid back jangly indie pop of ‘Colours Shades Of Summer' is a bittersweet expression of longing as the summer sun melts all the lovers words. ‘Gentians' is ambitious 60s style sunshine pop, with melodies weaving and whirling all around; a laid back festival of melody. ‘Light and Shade' is mod pop with driving Motown beat; a perfectly craft soulful summer song, with great sha na na na for a refrain. The singer hopes to instil confidence in his friend/lover to live for the moment and enjoy the light and shade of the world, a world full of colour. Get your dancing shoes and enjoy this super catchy song.

Even amongst the summer sunshine and clear skies, the heat can become unbearable and on ‘Frivolous 87' darker themes are explored. The moody cinematic guitar overlaying a choppy rhythm leads to an examination of past cynicisms and greed during the late 80s. The moody guitar licks are superb and suit the theme of the song. ‘Sweets For My Bittersweet' is fine powerpop with some cheesy but very catchy keyboard sounds as Watanabe's melodies continue to rolls along with ease. The memorable bridge and chorus leaves an indelible trace in your brains, fantastic powerpop.

The album finishes on a pop high with 80s reverb jangly guitar, but 60s torch song style of ‘ Rock Soles Garden '. Summerdew Avenue is an album that takes the jangly guitar of 80s, the soulful rhythms and melodies of 60s pop and fuses them with Tatsuhiko's heartfelt vocals, Paul McCartney like song craft and you've got yourself a fine slice of summer sunshine on this fine album. Jonny Magus Menu