23 April 2021
The Pale White are a trio hailing from Newcastle, featuring vocalist/guitarist Adam Hope, his brother Jack on drums, and Tom Booth on bass. They’re a band that answers the question, “What if Josh Homme from Queens of the Stone Age had been raised on hard rock and Britpop instead of hard rock and blues?” Their debut album explores that idea, using many heavy rock tropes, some thick grooves, and an occasional burst of pop hooks.
Infinite Pleasure opens with the title track, and the ominous sound of violin strings being scraped, and a simple but tension-filled guitar riff. Adam comes in singing softly, and the song doesn’t really kick in until the one-minute mark when the whole band enter and Adam and Booth crank up the distortion. The second verse begins after what’s essentially a half-chorus, this time including vocal harmonies, more percussion, and a touch of violin (or is it a cello?). The song continues to grow and shrink in volume and arrangement, leading to an extended bridge. The bridge climaxes with a high-speed drum and bass duet that lasts for about 10 seconds and sounds like it’s about to lead to an unusual fast coda that doesn’t sound like the rest of the song. But the Pale White back off of this and return to the main groove.