The Summer Isles

Roo Panes releases his new album The Summer Isles.

Stumbling upon something profound in the form of an abstract thought turned beautiful reality, the album’s title came to Roo before he later discovered it to be a genuine place; an archipelago off the western coast of Scotland. Bearing almost the same title, new track ‘The Summer Isles (Sunrise)’ follows in the wake of recent singles ‘Letter To The Boy’ and ‘Arcadia’, possessing the very same dreamlike quality that has quickly become a key feature of Roo’s latest work.

This song was probably the first to come to me on the album. I remember standing outside and the title coming to me. It was winter and I’d been longing to travel after a long period at home. I wondered if the summer isles existed, and looked them up – it turned out they were a small cluster of Scottish islands on the west coast. This was interesting to me as I’d already been looking at the white beaches of Scotland and thinking how exotic they looked, and though I had been “dreaming of a land of Jacarandas”, somewhere nice and hot, I’d been thinking somewhere in the UK was more realistic. Around this time, my now wife had given me an old film camera that I’d been wanting to learn to use, and so a couple of friends and I drove up to a beautiful place called “Lochaline” opposite the island of Mull to get inspired, take pictures, and play some music. That’s how the journey of the album began.”

Panes’ considered nylon-string guitar playing is joined by ethereal harmonies and sonorous textural elements which effortlessly combine to accompany evocative imagery throughout as Roo sings of treasure, jacarandas and untouched flowers, and “a quiet night that’s humming with the sea”. Assured and atmospheric throughout, the track’s clean production only adds to the natural theme of its subject as warm brass and graceful strings sit unobtrusively beneath the mix. Full of wonder, ‘The Summer Isles (Sunrise)’ perfectly encapsulates the feeling of yearning for travel and adventure. In the beautifully-shot accompanying video directed by Samuel Glazebrook, a young Roo Panes is played by Scottish actor Max Wilson who starred in the 2021 film ‘My Son’ alongside James McAvoy.