Indie musician, Penelope Scott, has returned from a short hiatus with two new EPs released in November. Scott is well known for her distinct musical style and eye-opening themes in her songs. She gained popularity during the pandemic with a few viral songs (notably ‘Rät’), but in recent years, she has faded out of the view of TikTok and other social media platforms. This leaves us with the question, is her new stuff any good?

Penelope Scott began her career in 2020 with the compilation albums Junkyard (released on Soundcloud) and The Junkyard 2, which notably lacked mixing and featured just her voice and a piano or guitar. Her debut album, Public Void, later that year, was a huge shift with a unique electronic sound. Since then, Penelope Scott has released the Hazards EP and a couple of singles, but many have forgotten about her after initial popularity.

Girl’s Night, released on November 3rd of this year, contains six tracks with Time of My Life being released as a single earlier. Girl’s Night is a nod to the simpler style of her early music like The Junkyard 2, with her current production quality. Many of the songs on the EP explore the bad and good of relationships. Pseudophed is short but a great opener, with a catchy chorus and interesting atmosphere. My favorite from the EP is Cabaret, which tells the story of a bad relationship with beautiful piano and metaphors relating to her music.

For fans of Public Void and Hazards, Mysteries For Rats was released on November 17th and contains five tracks, with Gross also being released as a single. When asked on her Instagram why she didn’t release one full-length album, Scott responded with, “the themes were just so different I wanted to keep them distinct.” Once again I’m blown away by Penelope Scott’s incredible writing. Sin Eater is a standout and has been playing in my head for weeks. It’s upbeat and catchy with a lot to say. The song uses religious language to touch on themes of self worth and its effect on relationships. Shuffle reminds me a lot of her older music, with its use of internet slang and even a reference to a song from Public Void at the end.

I’ve looked forward to these EPs for months and they lived up to all of my expectations. I highly recommend checking them out especially if you forgot all about Penelope Scott since lockdown, because her growth as an artist is absolutely amazing to see!