The Penelopes - Summerdew Avenue

The Japanese twee-pop outfit the Penelopes was essentially the work of singer/songwriter Tatsuhiko Watanabe.`s formative influences, musical antecedents can be limiting or liberating, a rote formula to follow or a fertile field to nurture and see what might come up. In the case of Hyogo-based singer/guitarist Tatsuhiko Watanabe, mastermind of the Penelopes, what he`s heard and it`s evident from the band`s first two albums that he`s traveled widely in pop style circles, from early 80`s pop, Merseybeat, Monkees, the Who, Roy Orbison and Neil Diamond to the Style Council, Elvis Costello, Edwyn Collins and the Smiths is simply essential creative nutrition, the raw materials to be processed and recombined for his sweetly rendered social and political commentaries. In Watanabe, Japan has its first great Western indie-pop auteur, an eccentric as capable of conjuring up `60s AM radio delectability as serious `90s alternapop. Contrary to the prevailing noise/kitsch/garage/punk genre winds blowing across the Pacific, the Penelopes strike up breezy guitar chords at easy tempos, arranging catchy melodies into lush harmonies (the vocals are in English, with a perceptible but unobtrusive accent); keyboards top it all off, shaping Watanabe`s easy travels through numerous Anglo-American idioms."-TrouserPress.

" Methinks Tatsuhiko Watanabe has clearly been listening to some great sixties sunshine and eighties pop. Watanabe does the songwriting, guitar, vocals, keyboards and programming for Japanese band The Penelopes, which also features Chigusa Mitata on bass. Their new album Summerdew Avanue is the second in a four-CD series of seasonal tributes and features a very upbeat pop sensibility. The music is sweet and jangly with lots of reverb. Watanabes voice on some songs sounds like Roy Orbison. For fans of Japanese-indie-pop."-LeftHip.com.

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