Pale Waves

Pale Waves, an alt-pop outfit from the U.K., shift between ethereal, floating textures and bold, stadium-ready anthems. Their influences draw from 1980s and 1990s acts including Cocteau Twins, the Blue Nile, and the Cranberries, while later material also incorporates the catchy melodic approach of 2000s mainstream radio pop. The band first unveiled their energetic dark-pop approach via the EP All the Things I Never Said at the start of 2018. Their debut full-length, My Mind Makes Noises, arrived later that year and climbed into the U.K. Top Ten; the follow-up Who Am I? (2021) matched that commercial success. Steady touring kept their profile rising, a trajectory that continued with fresh material culminating in the 2024 album Smitten.

The Manchester quartet formed in the early 2010s after drummer Ciara Doran and vocalist/songwriter Heather Baron-Gracie crossed paths inside a liquor store. The pair quickly became inseparable and spent the next two years writing songs together in relative isolation before recruiting bassist Charlie Wood and second guitarist Hugo Silvani to turn the project into a complete band. Once assembled, they developed a guitar-driven style shaped by atmospheric synth-pop groups such as the Cure and Cocteau Twins. A handful of demos posted online in 2015 attracted the attention of independent label Dirty Hit, which signed the group in 2017 and released their first single, “There’s a Honey,” produced by members of fellow Dirty Hit act the 1975. Following additional road work and the second single “Television Romance,” Pale Waves issued All the Things I Never Said in February 2018. Several months afterward they secured a U.S. deal with Interscope Records and unveiled the track “Kiss” ahead of their first album. My Mind Makes Noises appeared in September 2018 and peaked at number eight on the U.K. chart.

At the beginning of 2020 the band contributed the Lawrence Rothman collaboration “SkinDeepSkyHighHeartWide” to the soundtrack of the horror film The Turning. Their second studio album, Who Am I?, arrived in early 2021, outperforming the debut by reaching number three at home and was soon succeeded by the third LP, Unwanted, in 2022. For the fourth record, Baron-Gracie mined entries from her teenage diary to explore her personal experience of queer sexuality; the resulting album, Smitten, was co-produced by Baron-Gracie alongside OneRepublic producer Simon Oscroft and surfaced in September 2024.