With their latest album Lefty, released on January 31st via I Love You / Thirty Tigers, indie-folk duo Penny & Sparrow continue their decade-long journey of sonic evolution. Andy Baxter and Kyle Jahnke have long been revered for their poetic lyricism, delicate harmonies, and genre-blurring compositions, and this 20-track offering is their most ambitious yet—a dreamlike tapestry of emotion, storytelling, and sonic experimentation.
Forged in the solitude of a commandeered garden shed, Lefty is both expansive and intimate. The album showcases the duo’s mastery in crafting music that is deeply personal yet universally resonant. Penny & Sparrow’s sound has always thrived on contrast—their ability to weave ethereal indie folk with experimental avant-garde elements, chamber pop elegance, and haunting balladry sets them apart. Here, they explore a new level of artistic vulnerability, seamlessly moving between lush acoustics and glitchy electronic landscapes.
“Lefty is a long collection of both real and made up things. We wrote poetry, true stories, literary fan fiction, horror, erotica, slice-of-life vignettes, dream scenarios, saloon conversations, elegies, a toast, a few confessions and at least two love letters. All of them belong together because each one is an extension of us, of the things we love. We are the ties that bind Lefty.”
The album’s journey traverses tender acoustic reflections ('Mattering Ram', 'Alphabet', 'Country'), airy chamber pop ('My Lover Was A Great Man'), and ambient electro-experimentation ('Even - Keeled', 'Sea Foam', 'Idea Baby'). Each track feels like a brushstroke on a vast, impressionistic canvas, with the duo’s signature harmonies anchoring the record’s shifting sonic terrain. Lefty is a mosaic of poetic musings—elegies, literary fan fiction, confessions, and love letters, as the duo themselves describe.
Their inspirations—ranging from Simon & Garfunkel to Bon Iver, Stephen Sondheim, and even James Blake—are present in the album’s genre-fluid approach. Yet, Lefty remains singularly Penny & Sparrow: a beautifully sprawling, deeply introspective, and sonically adventurous album that rewards patient, immersive listening. In a world saturated with fleeting moments, Lefty dares to linger, to explore, and to unravel its mysteries one haunting melody at a time.
Stream 'Lefty' in full now: