Pale Waves Essentials

Pale Waves received an early career boost when The 1975’s Matt Healy signed them to his Dirty Hit label in 2017, and it’s easy to hear why he was so smitten with the Manchester quartet. Like Healy’s band, Pale Waves effortlessly merge the worlds of bedroom indie and stadium pop, with calling-card singles “There’s a Honey” and “Television Romance” reimagining ‘80s-goth icons like The Cure and Cocteau Twins for a post-Taylor Swift world. But on their 2021 release, Who Am I?, Pale Waves aim for maximum mass appeal, channelling the cathartic alt-pop of Avril Lavigne and Alanis Morissette on songs like “Change” and “She’s My Religion.”