Artist spotlight: Pale Waves

Pale Waves have the grunge-rock look while sounding like the modern-day answer to Avril Lavigne. Call it cringeworthy (because it is a bit), but I’m okay with letting it tumble out here that I was an Avril fan as a pre-teen and even won a book about her — not the most well-written literary piece in my library, I assure you, but I never win competitions, so let’s allow it. But that’s perhaps why Pale Waves’ tunes gel with me.

The Mancunian electro-pop outfit first emerged in 2014 but they’ve had their successes in more recent years. They won the NME Under the Radar Award at the NME Awards in 2018 and released their debut album, ‘My Mind Makes Noises’, the same year. They produced a batch of killer singles after that, prior to ‘Who Am I?’, which we received in February 2021.

So, yeah, they have a lot of strings to their bow, and many of their fans also neatly crossover with those of The 1975. You can really hear why in those sugary synths, too. A very cool vibe indeed.