PALE WAVES have shared a new single and video, Glasgow, the second song to be revealed from their forthcoming fourth album Smitten, to be released on 20 September via Dirty Hit. The band have also confirmed details of a UK headline tour for October.
“Glasgow is my favourite from Smitten,” says Heather Baron-Gracie. “It’s about leaving someone because you know it’s no good for either of you anymore. It somehow breaks my heart but also makes me feel euphoric at the same time.”
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 the 2022 album Unwanted, this new record is full of vivid, earwormy hooks, thwacking snares and jangly alt-pop that sounds fresh out of their home city Manchester.
Lyrically, the record is preoccupied with past lives – some more recent than others. Heather 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,” says Heather. “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 comes 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 go / Call me obsessed but I don’t mind just as long as it’s all mine”.
SMITTEN TRACK LIST
- Glasgow
- Not a Love Song
- Gravity
- Thinking About You
- Perfume
- Last Train Home
- Kiss Me Again
- Miss America
- Hate to Hurt You
- Seeing Stars
- Imagination
- Slow
Pale Waves are currently on the road in the US, close to completing a full tour support with PVRIS, returning to the UK for a handful of festival performances over the summer before embarking on a freshly announced UK tour, of which Heather says: “These will be the best Pale Waves shows to date. The UK is home for us so these shows are even more special and we’re so excited to get to play songs from Smitten live.”
AUGUST
Sat 03 DERBYSHIRE Y Not Festival
Sun 04 KENDAL Calling Festival
OCTOBER
Thu 03 NORWICH Waterfront
Fri 04 LIVERPOOL O2 Academy
Sat 05 MANCHESTER Neighbourhood Festival
Sun 06 NOTTINGHAM Rock City
Tue 08 BRIGHTON Chalk
Wed 09 BRISTOL O2 Academy
Thu 10 SHEFFIELD Foundry
Fri 11 DUNDEE Fat Sams
Sun 13 GLASGOW SWG3
Mon 14 NEWCASTLE Boiler Shop
Tue 15 BIRMINGHAM O2 Institute
Thu 17 LONDON HERE @ Outernet
Tickets available from: https://palewaves.co.uk/live/