Pale Waves have announced their new album ‘Smitten’ and shared the lead single ‘Perfume’.
The Manchester four-piece premiered the track last night (June 12) as BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record. It has more in common with their synth-driven ’80s-inspired earlier work and features a lush, dreamy quality.
“My mother said when I want something I never let it go / Call me obsessed, but I don’t mind just as long as it’s all mine,” sings Heather Baron-Gracie, before the chorus of “I wanna make / I wanna make you my girl.”
‘Smitten’, the band’s fourth album, will arrive on September 20 via Dirty Hit, and you can pre-order or save it on their website.
‘Smitten’, which was written over two years between the US and the UK, sees Pale Waves reflecting on their Northern roots. “I found myself writing about not just a certain time period, but my whole life, from years ago,” said Baron-Gracie.
“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.”
The album follows 2022’s ‘Unwanted’, but is set to deviate from the pop-punk sound of the album and its predecessor ‘Who Am I?’, instead having more of a jangly indie pop sound that takes influence from their home city.
Back in November, the band shared that they were working on the album – and that they believed it to be their “best yet”.
Baron-Gracie said, “Ultimately, that’s about building a world that feels like Pale Waves, while also feeling completely different to anywhere we’ve inhabited before. We’re creating another universe for our fans to explore, and for us to live in for a moment.”
Pale Waves’ ‘Smitten’ tracklisting is:
1. ‘Glasgow’
2. ‘Not a Love Song’
3. ‘Gravity’
4. ‘Thinking About You’
5. ‘Perfume’
6. ‘Last Train Home’
7. ‘Kiss Me Again’
8. ‘Miss America’
9. ‘Hate to Hurt You’
10. ‘Seeing Stars’
11. ‘Imagination’
12. ‘Slow’
The band are touring the US with PVRIS from this month, before returning to the UK for festivals including Y Not, Kendal Calling and Manchester’s Neighbourhood Festival. Visit here for tickets and more information.
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