Sunday, March 18, 2018

Bands to watch: Pale Waves



Manchester act Pale Waves got to #94 in my Best Singles of 2017 ranking with There's a Honey and to #115 with Television Romance. So in my music world they are more bridesmaids than brides so far (or...should I say - the corpsebrides?) but they keep releasing quality tunes. They're so good that you can expect higher placings for them in my 2018 recaps.
I've been entertaining the idea of this post since very early 2018. As always, reality got in the way - the more I'm happy that the band earned more substantial recognition in the meantime with Top 5 placing in prestigious but often erratic BBC Sound of 2018 poll. They also won in Under the Radar category of NME Awards. It's quite a rapid ascent to stardom - the group started under the name Creek just four years ago. Singer and guitar player Heather Baron-Gracie and drummer Ciara Doran were joined later by guitarist Hugo Silvani and bassist Charlie Wood. They are probably most known as supporting artists on The 1975 tour, which makes perfect sense if you think about it.

Debut EP All The Things I Never Said (premiered on 19 February) didn't stray much from Pale Waves signature sound as established by their first singles. Actually, this sound is not very close to The 1975's dream pop-meets-alt-R&B template. Pop-punky energy brings Paramore to mind but those Brits are closer to dark wave both sonically and visually. Of those four songs, the ballad My Obsession is my favorite and I find Heavenly the best among uptempo numbers. Mancunian quarter readies their first LP for the summer. I have no doubt it will have a summer sound but some surprises would be welcome, too.





FB: facebook.com/palewaves (TT/SC/IG: the same)

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