Roo Panes - new album "The Summer Isles"
Released today and featuring singles "Samalaman Bay", "Our Time" and "I Just Love You", the record is a collection of arresting, beautiful, soulful, and introspective folk songs.
March 24, 2023
The Summer Isles" is the name of an actual group of islands off the west coast of Scotland. According to Roo Panes, however, his "Summer Isles" also refers to the various "glowing islands" that have kept him afloat over the years; from the people he loves ("Our Time," "I Just Love You") to the memories that bring him joy ("Suburban Pines," "Fairy Falls," "Notes From A Holiday"); along with longings that are still waiting to be fulfilled.
With "The Summer Isles," Panes presents a mature and accomplished collection of songs that explore a variety of themes including love and refuge, childhood memories and nostalgic wonder. The range of emotions that run throughout the album show Roo not only as a songwriter, but more importantly as a human being. In each of these gentle yet powerful sounding songs, Roo Panes reveals himself as someone who truly loves life and cherishes every little moment of joy, no matter how fleeting.
The concept of adventure that runs through "The Summer Isles" is also reflected in the album's sensitive production and thoughtful orchestration.
The album was recorded largely with friends in a studio in Roo's hometown of Wimborne, near Dorset. Adorned with fluttering guitars, pensive string arrangements, wandering piano lines and subtle atmospherics, the album's fifteen tracks echo with gentle wonder. At the heart of it all, however, is Roo Pane's warm and sincere vocals, which accompany the listener on their journey to a sweet and profound conclusion: "One thing I've seen all these years: Love is the shining island in the sea of tears"
Roo Panes on 'The Summer Isles': "The Summer Isles is a collection of songs from the last year and a half. All of them represent an island or a refuge in some way, or a great memory that's in a bottle. Much of the album touches on the theme of childhood and innocent wonder. And the musical aspects vary in color from instrumentals to short lyrical narratives. There's also a touch of adventure behind it, as it all started on a whim with a road trip to the Scottish islands and evolved organically from there. It's been a lot of fun to bring it together."
Listen to / stream the album here: https://bfan.link/the-summer-isles and buys it physically here: https://roopanes.ochre.store/store.Roo Panes will be playing a concert in Berlin @Heimathafen Neukölln on June 15, 2023. Get your ticket here.
We represent these songs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
Photo credits:
© Beetle Rhind