Album Review: Smitten by Pale Waves

Pale Waves love a shake-up. Deviating from the silken synth-pop of their debut My Mind Makes Noises, follow-ups Who Am I? and Unwanted double-dipped their sound into a sugary vat of punkish-pop. Now, Smitten reemerges dripping in both; a toffee-apple-like concoction cracking out of its candy-coating to reveal a soft dreamy pop core that still retains some much-needed crunch.

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The Manchester outfit are one of the more intriguing guitar bands around, with genre switch-ups relentlessly introduced. Smitten, deviates once again, smartly, returning to their roots, cementing themselves as a band that clearly loves the music they make. 2018's debut My Mind Makes Noises, introduced Pale Waves as a contemporary alternative to The Cure; with sparkling synths and gothic blooms of guitar shimmer, they had all the right stuff to pull it off with utter ease.

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Pale Waves is something of an anomaly. Lead singer Heather Baron-Gracie suggests a queer-edged Avril Lavigne, and the English band's aesthetic draws inspiration from indie pop, pop-punk, and goth rock, reminiscent of the mainstream emo explosion of the early aughts, with a sprinkle of the Tumblr subculture of the early 2010s for good measure. "This is not a love song/We don't end up together," Baron-Gracie proclaims on "Not a Love Song," a track from Pale Waves's fourth studio album, Smitten.

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The return of Pale Waves' retro alt-pop falls in line with vocalist Heather Baron-Gracie's coming-of-age movie marathon, taking a step back to focus on identify and to engage heavily with queer art. It's a far cry from 2022's 'Unwanted' - a record which owed more to Avril Lavigne than it did to the ethereal synths that return at the forefront of their newest, making it more akin to breakthrough debut 'My Mind Makes Noises'. Written in isolation separate to 'Unwanted''s touring cycle, 'Smitten' sees Heather lead the thematic charge, peppered with references to past and present loves and romances, pulling together her self-discovery with the sound that the band are the best at making.

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Pale Waves have always been a band that redefines the way songwriting and high-quality production mix together, and that is no different with the new album 'Smitten'. Some may see this body of work and think the band have gone back to their roots, and others can see they are trying new soundscapes and lyricism, for this writer, it's both. That is ultimately the beauty of 'Smitten'.

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