PALE WAVES
ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM
SMITTEN
OUT 20TH SEPTEMBER VIA DIRTY HIT HEAR THE NEW SINGLE ‘PERFUME’
LISTEN NOW: https://palewaves.ffm.to/
Pale Waves make their hotly anticipated return with news of their fourth album Smitten, due 20th September via Dirty Hit. Premiered last night as BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record, the band have also shared the lead single from the record ‘Perfume’.
Written between the US and UK over a two year period, Smitten finds the band reflecting upon their Northern roots. Deviating from the rebellious pop punk sound of 2022 album Unwanted, this new record is full of vivid, earwormy hooks, thwacking snares and jangly alt-pop that sounds fresh out of Manchester, where they’re from.
Lyrically, the record is preoccupied with past lives – some more recent than others. Heather (Baron-Gracie) found herself in a headspace where she could finally breathe, and reflect, like peeling through the pages of a long-forgotten teenage diary and being surprised by what she found.
“I found myself writing about not just a certain time period, but my whole life, from years ago,” she says. “When I fall in love, I fall deep, and it’s interesting to me that you can feel so fascinated and smitten with someone and then they can become a total stranger. So I feel like Smitten really summarised perfectly what I felt for others at a certain point.”
So much of Smitten captures the excitement and euphoria of early queer relationships; some of which come alongside confusion and pain. On lead single ‘Perfume’, an infectious 1980s-leaning anthem reminiscent of bands like The Cure and The Cranberries, Heather sings about being totally enamoured with a person: “My mother says that when I want something I never let it go / Call me obsessed but I don’t mind just as long as it’s all mine.”
Speaking about ‘Perfume’, Heather says: “’Perfume’ is the perfect introduction into the new world we’ve created. It’s queer, feminine and romantic and it encapsulates the essence of Smitten.”
Pale Waves are currently on the road in the US for a full support tour with PVRIS. The band will return to the UK for a handful of festival performances including Y Not Festival and Neighbourhood Festival.
Smitten tracklist:
1 – Glasgow
2 – Not a Love Song
3 – Gravity
4 – Thinking About You
5 – Perfume
6 – Last Train Home
7 – Kiss Me Again
8 – Miss America
9 – Hate to Hurt You
10 – Seeing Stars
11 – Imagination
12 – Slow