Pale Waves - Who Am I? (Album Review)
Wednesday, 17 February 2021
Written by Huw Baines
The desire to dress up mainstream pop music as something different—something more dangerous or provocative—has been around since the penny dropped that rebellion shifted units. Pale Waves’ 2018 debut ‘My Mind Makes Noises’ ran headlong into this dynamic and faltered: for all the eyeliner and goth stylings the LP fizzled once its anodyne hooks failed to scratch beneath the surface.
Its successor is more comfortable in its surroundings. ‘Who Am I?’ ditches the Sisters of Mercy cosplay in favour of inhabiting the slick pop-rock of the late 1990s that set the table for Avril Lavigne’s blockbuster crossover success. Here Pale Waves find more room to manoeuvre, favouring the crunch of their guitars to add heft to choruses that skew anthemic. But there’s still one crucial thing missing.