Who is popular today?

While the name might suggest an old 1980s or 1990s indie band, Pale Waves is a modern proposition. Drummer Ciara Doran met the wonderfully named singer Heather Baron-Gracie at Manchester’s BIMM, the British and Irish Modern Music Institute, whose Dublin branch spawned Fontaines DC and the Murder Capital.
Baron-Gracie has cited the late Dolores O’Riordan as a key influence on both her vocals and style. There is a slight vocal resemblance, but that’s where the comparisons begin and end, as Baron-Gracie and friends turn in a second album that embraces a big sound and their sexuality, and asserts individuality.
Who Am I? is an apt title in more ways than one. Pale Waves are among the few rising stars of British indie rock, but they share almost nothing with the likes of Shame bar the obvious fact of using guitars. The Mancunian quartet polish it with such an intense pop-rock sheen, they’ve clearly been listening to Avril Lavigne. She’s My Religion starts as a moody ballad and then soars on the chorus. You Don’t Own Me returns to shouty pop, as Baron-Gracie dismisses misogynistic expectations: “Don’t show too much skin, don’t even start to speak your mind.”
Pale Waves should secure another top-10 hit and cement their position as one of the few current guitar bands that resonate with a young, 21st-century audience.