PBG 3 Question Interview with The Pennydrops "Boundary" Single
- Produced by a Girl™
- Jul 1
- 3 min read
Hey, it’s Produced by a Girl, and we’re stoked to spotlight The Pennydrops and their latest single, “Boundary.” This track is a rush of indie-rock energy, channeling the raw emotion of relationship conflict into something that feels both cathartic and beautifully intentional. The acoustic indie-folk roots give way to punchy, grungy guitars, creating a soundscape that’s as tense and layered as the story it tells. You can feel the push and pull of crossed boundaries in every clever lyric and restless harmony. The Pennydrops, led by York songwriters J
.J. Chamberlain and Izzy Hartley, blend warmth and edge in a way that’s totally their own. Imagine the melodic intimacy of Fleetwood Mac meeting the gritty honesty of Nirvana’s In Utero, all wrapped up in harmonies that feel like coming home after a long journey.
1. “Boundary” opens with the raw energy of having your limits crossed in a relationship, but the track doesn’t just narrate that experience, it lets the guitars wrestle with the emotion, almost like a conversation unfolding in real time. When you were writing, did the process reveal something you hadn’t fully faced before, or help you translate those emotions in a relationship challenge into sound?
Izzy: Every song that we write is generally a channelling of emotion into sound. In this case it was a subconscious revelation, I didn’t realise at the time how it was helping me, but on reflection I realised that I was clearly getting something off my chest. I think that J.J realised but was polite enough to not bring this issue forward. He kept it as an inside thought. He quietly noted it.
J.J: I did realise that there was something very wrong there, but for me it was more important to allow the power of the song to remain unfiltered in that moment. If I’d have pointed it out at the time, it might have changed the poignancy of the final product. I also have a lot of respect for my bandmate and co-writer and I didn’t want to overstep.
2. This recording marks a turning point for The Pennydrops, as Joe and Joshua’s bass and drums brought the band’s sound into full bloom. How did the energy in the room transform once the rhythm section locked in, and did it reshape the emotional landscape of the song for you?
Izzy: It was transcendental. It elevated the song so much more. The first and last songs on the EP were meant to be big, live sounding songs and as much as we can carry them as a duo, but they were massively elevated by having a full rhythm section. It’s integral for Boundary.
J.J: When I heard the first mix of Boundary, the impact of the quieter section going into the final double chorus was so exciting and so perfect, and it made me realise just how important it was that we formed this band and that we didn’t leave this as a songwriting project between just two of us. It’s so powerful and it really adds to the sentiment of the chorus and the message it conveys.
3. I’m fascinated by Izzy’s approach of speaking the lyrics like movie dialogue during recording, even if those takes didn’t make the final cut. How did that experiment shape the vocal delivery, and what clues tell you when a song needs to be lived or acted out before it can be sung with real honesty?
Izzy:
It upset me deeply and I needed to calm down afterwards (laughs), it was the producer’s decision to do this as we were trying to capture the anger, and I’m in a low range so it was a real challenge to deliver those words with the appropriate emotions. We knew it needed to be punchy and assertive. It’s the kind of anger where you’re putting a curse or a hex on someone. He (Tom Hartley, producer) went out the room and left me to it with the mic. The exercise reignited the emotions that went with the song, I’d already disconnected myself from the original meaning behind the song, so this helped me to find the fuel that I needed to deliver the vocals as they needed to be heard.
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Written By: Chief PBG Press Editor Mary Knoblock
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