Pale Waves - Unwanted

by Zena Grieg

published: 5 / 10 / 2022

Label: Dirty Hit Records
Format: CD

Vibrant and uncompromising second album from Mancunian pop-punk outfit Pale Waves

Review

The new record by Mancunian pop-punk quartet Pale Waves has just come out, following up on their 2021 UK top 3 album ‘Who Am I?’. Recorded in Los Angeles with Blink-182 producer Zakk Cervini, ‘Unwanted’, the band's third album, rides the waves of a pop-punk revival in the US and is a bold statement of the unconventionality championed by the group; as charismatic lead singer Heather Baron-Gracie said: “We don’t need to fit a perfect mould, we don’t need to apologize for being ourselves, and we won’t change for anyone. That acceptance is what connects us.” Songs to listen out for in this thirteen- track collection include: fast-paced lead single and opener ‘Lies’; the raging title track with its suspenseful intro and chorus: “You’re so good/Yeah, you’re so good (so good)/At making me feel like nothing/Making me feel unwanted”; the searing, explosive ballad about a bullied class mate’s suicide ‘The Hard Way’; the acerbic ‘Alone’ with its vengeful chorus: “Wish I could go back to the night when I met you/So I could tell you to go to hell/I’d rather spend my entire lifetime alone”; the upbeat ‘Clean’ with its euphoric lyrics: “You’re the one girl that I just can’t get/Enough of…/You’re the one drug that I don’t want to/Get clean from”; the lament of ‘Without You’ with its plaintive resilience: “Now my tears could fill an ocean/And I’m stuck here in the same emotion/I survived somehow”; and the minimalist ‘Numb’ with its weary emotive refrain: “Let Me Be Free”. A vibrant, forthright album, traversing a kaleidoscope of emotions, ‘Unwanted’ places the focus firmly back on this unorthodox, dynamic band.

Track Listing:-

1 Lies
2 Unwanted
3 The Hard Way
4 Jealousy
5 Alone
6 Clean
7 Without You
8 Only Problem
9 You're So Vain
10 Reasons To Live
11 Numb
12 Act My Age
13 So Sick (Of Missing You)