Islet - Wimmy

It’s unlikely ‘Wimmy’, the second mini-album from this Cardiff four-piece, will be what you expect - Islet are not a band that buy into expectations.

Words like ‘quirky’, ‘unique’ and ‘cute’ may sound like an ad from an irksome lonely hearts page, but here they’re pretty accurate. ‘Schizophrenic’, ‘eccentric’ and ‘surreal’ also come to mind, but at least one of those would be better placed on a mental health assessment. Trying to pin down their sound can be tricky; many of their songs begin in one direction and take dozens of twists and turns before coming to a stop.

Take ‘Living In Manila’, which starts with some gentle finger picking and drawn out vocals, but all of sudden switches to off-kilter tropical post-punk that segues into biting guitar. This abruptly ends to make way for a vocal harmony and then some scratchy noise and then the tropical dissonance starts all over again. It’s bizarre but brilliant.

There are tracks on the record that could make you think the band might actually be a secret Welsh side project of the Boredoms; there is atmosphere, groove and humor, and it even includes a six-minute dubbed-out ditty that features lines about horses and dogs.

Do not come to this record with any expectations. It is impossible to tell what is going to happen next within one song by Islet, let alone from record to record.