Cubzoa, Jack Wolter of Penelope Isles’ artist pseudonym, derives its name from Cubozoa AKA the venomous box jellyfish - a “little beast of the sea”. An apt description of both Jack himself, and his solo sound. Cubzoa originally dates back to 2014-15, with Jack’s two DIY Bandcamp releases providing the foundations for Penelope Isles neo-psych sound.   

First evidence of Cubzoa’s new lease of life came with the beautifully hazy “I Dreamed A Beach” which went up on Bandcamp and YouTube in February 2025, alongside a cinematic B/W live session filmed in the towering art deco seafront block of Jack’s erstwhile Brighton residence. This dedication (verging on obsession) to the visual is in many ways Cubzoa’s MO. Every track is given a live backdrop of niche archival, filmed and found footage, painstakingly pieced together to perfectly complement the aural.

Unfold In The Sky provided much-needed focus during Jack’s Covid-era lockdown at the family home in Cornwall. Knowing the bedroom-recorded songs weren’t Pennies tracks Jack nonetheless kept at it, finishing the album in the salty embrace of Brighton, coming back to himself and the sea; this water runs deep in the album’s DNA. References to the sea drift throughout; keep an ear out for underwater falling in “Mid-Air Collider”, a less-than-friendly ocean capable of breaking you in two and swallowing you whole in “I Dreamed A Beach”, and “the waves and the rips” in “Chewin On My Lips”. 

The aquatic lyrics are mirrored by the sonics, with riffs that use electronic textures and timbres to leap freely between both sea and sky, the intimate suddenly becoming universal. To this end Jack borrowed vintage synth playthings to build the album, from both the Hartnoll brothers of Orbital and the Toydrum boys, with whom he shares a studio. 

The album stuttered at first, as Jack struggled to set his sound apart from the Penelope Isles signature: sound: “It was only when I let my guard down that things really started to click,” Jack recalls. “Cubzoa being a side project, there was no pressure, and I had time to let the songs take different shapes before deciding on final versions. I’m very happy with where the album has landed.” 

LP highlight ‘Turtle’ (“painting a picture of the changing seasons in Brighton”) is inspired, aptly, by “the groove and timing of a ‘Tortoise’ song” whilst the direct influence of a particularly seminal 2022 Bicep Glasto set resonates throughout in the ambient techno-electronica. See, for example, the sombrely insistent, last-dregs-of-the-evening throb of ‘Dance With Me’.

This polarity of sounds continues in the opening track “In 2 Worlds”, with mechanical pitted against orchestral, “set inside a space-traveling vehicle that shifts between two opposing universes” and a spoken word intro by Jack’s friend, singer-songwriter Anna B Savage. Also in support through the album are other friends, musical allies and long-time collaborators including Graham Walsh (Holy Fuck) mixing the songs: “Graham’s well-honed textural decision-making really brought both the electronic and the organic elements to life”. Equally pivotal in the album’s sound was Katie Tavini, a decisive force who brought her synthetic prowess to bear when mastering the album.

The synthetic, in the form of loops and whorls, is a powerful presence too in the track “Buckle Up”. Underpinned by a frenetic paranoia and urgency ‘Buckle Up’ was written, “as a response to the challenging times artists were facing worldwide during the pandemic.” 

Covid also inspired the closing title track: a wistful, tender electro-acoustic concoction written for Lily, his sister and the other half of Penelope Isles (it begins “You’ll be okay, little flower”). “Penelope Isles made and released an album during the pandemic, and it felt like a lot of work and dedication to a life in music had come undone. The track is a love letter of sorts. Ultimately one filled with hope.”

The album thus locates Jack squarely where he is now, coming into his own as an independent creator whilst grappling with both external and internal pressures. As he sees it: “unfolding in a space...dismantling something in order to better understand it. Seeing its imperfections as well as its crystalline spaces. This unfolding has allowed me to finally stand still, comfortably trapped in the uncertainty.”