The Powys, Wales experimental pop outfit
Islet relishes their status as an unabashedly independent band. They're more likely to communicate through their 'zine The Isness than through social media; vocalists/multi-instrumentalists
Emma and
Mark Daman Thomas have kept their day jobs; and their free-flowing mix of psych, folk, electronic, and indie rock changes from release to release. On 2012's Illuminated People and the following year's
Released from the Movement, their wild-eyed sound evoked the likes of
Gang Gang Dance and
Animal Collective. Beginning with 2016's Liquid Half Moon EP, however,
Islet's music took on a more cohesive feel, a direction that continued with 2020's ambitious and affecting full-length Eyelet.
Islet formed in 2009, when brothers and former
Attack + Defend members John Thomas and
Mark Daman Thomas began jamming with
Emma Daman Thomas, previously of
the Victorian English Gentlemens Club. After a handful of gigs as a trio, they added guitarist/drummer/vocalist Alex Williams, a former member of
Fredrick Stanley Star, to the fold. The band generated interest with their live shows, which featured extended jams and instrument-swapping between members, and
Islet issued a flurry of short releases in 2010. That January, they made their recorded debut with Bento #6, an installment in Turnstile Records' Bento singles series. A track from that single, "Jasmine," appeared on that June's mini-album, Celebrate This Place. Recorded in a Mid Wales barn by the band, it earned acclaim for the way it captured
Islet's spontaneous live sound on record. Following a U.K. tour that included dates at festivals such as Truck, Latitude, and Green Man, that October
Islet issued
Wimmy, another self-recorded mini-album that the group created in an old rehearsal room in Cardiff.
While
Islet worked on their debut album in 2011, they compiled their mini-albums as the Japanese and European release Celebrate This Place with Me. They also issued This Fortune, a single backed by a collage of found sounds recorded in locales ranging from Trenčín, Slovakia to Cardiff. Ranging from psych-rock to post-punk to fuzzy lo-fi, Illuminated People arrived in January 2012 on
Islet's own Shape Records and earned significant praise for its experimentation, including a place on the shortlist for that year's Welsh Music Prize. The band took a slightly different approach on their second album, October 2013's
Released by the Movement, a more kinetic and eclectic set of songs that came bundled with issues of the group's long-running Isness 'zine.
Following
Released by the Movement,
Islet took some time off and resurfaced with November 2016's Liquid Half Moon, an EP with a more streamlined sound than their previous work. In 2019, they signed to
Fire Records and issued the single "Clouds," a song inspired by
Emma Daman Thomas' pregnancy. "Clouds" also appeared on
Islet's third album, March 2020's Eyelet. Their first work as the trio of
Mark and
Emma Daman Thomas and Alex Williams, the album's more tempered and cohesive sound reflected the changes in their lives: Williams lost his mother, while the Daman Thomases welcomed their second child. ~ Heather Phares