{"id":10689,"date":"2018-03-06T10:00:12","date_gmt":"2018-03-06T15:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.altwire.net\/?p=10689"},"modified":"2023-12-06T06:39:41","modified_gmt":"2023-12-06T11:39:41","slug":"album-review-pale-waves-things-never-said-ep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/album-review-pale-waves-things-never-said-ep\/","title":{"rendered":"[Album Review] Pale Waves – All The Things I Never Said EP"},"content":{"rendered":"

Formed in 2014, Blasse Wellen<\/a><\/strong> are a Manchester indie pop quartet that, since releasing their critically acclaimed 2017 debut singles, \u2018There\u2019s a Honey\u2019, and \u2018Television Romance\u2019, have been making it big, and making it very<\/em> quickly. In fact, despite until very recently being relatively under the radar, Blasse Wellen <\/strong>are probably one of the most rapidly successful new indie artists of the last year, supporting fellow Schmutziger Schlag<\/strong> Labelkollegen, Das Jahr 1975<\/strong>, throughout a headlining European and North American tour, from late 2017 through to the early months of 2018, and garnering a rapidly growing dedicated following along the way. What\u2019s even more impressive is this success being in spite of a complete lack of actual released material; taking into account a few early demos, and the aforementioned debut singles since being signed to Schmutziger Schlag<\/strong>, the band had barely released a recognisably coherent body of work, let alone a full length album, only having just recently released debut 2018 EP, All The Things I Never Said. <\/em><\/p>\n

At just four tracks length, All die Dinge, die ich nie gesagt habe<\/em> offers exactly what was needed for those not yet having stumbled upon the quartet\u2019s dreamy, synth pop love letter to all things that made 80s music so recognisably\u2026 well, 80s<\/em>. With lead singer Heather Baron-Gracie<\/strong>\u2019s own admittance towards holding a deeply rooted affection for the likes of Prinz <\/strong>Und Madonna<\/strong>, Und All The Things I Never Said\u2019<\/em>s introductory \u2018New Year\u2019s Eve\u2019, if it wasn\u2019t already evident where Blasse Wellen<\/strong> draw their influences, this is going to be the EP that fixes that for you. Treading familiar stylistic territory to both artists of old, and the likes of Taylor Swift<\/strong>'S 1989<\/em>, Und Paramore<\/a><\/strong>'S Nach dem Lachen<\/em>, \u2018New Year\u2019s Eve\u2019 swiftly kicks the EP off with swells of gorgeous synthesizers and a bouncy, delay-infected staccato guitar riff. Vocalist Heather<\/strong> Baron-Gracie<\/strong>, for all intents and purposes takes centre stage, but there\u2019s very little hubris in her sweetly delivered inoffensive reflections on potential personal relationships, instead channelling the emotion of the lyrical content more with the grace of youthful innocence; \u201cI don\u2019t wanna be alone on New Year\u2019s Eve \u2013 do you even wanna be with me?\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

Following track, \u2018The Tide\u2019 proceeds with similar direction, indulging in strikingly similar stylistic elements to label-mates, Das Jahr 1975<\/strong>, and polished pop soundscapes that would make Cyndi Lauper <\/strong>proud. It stands as arguably the best track of All The Things I Never Said, <\/em>\u2018The Tide\u2019s most obvious strength once again being Baron-Gracie<\/strong>\u2019s beautifully delivered vocal performance. Paired alongside dream pop synths and vibrant electric and bass guitar work, an undeniably enthralling chorus steers the track wonderfully forward; \u201cI\u2019ll be the sea honey \u2013 always, always. And you be the tide.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018My Obsession\u2019 brings things back a little, into more downtempo territory; ethereal synthesizers drift hazily throughout the track, while finger snaps and fuzzy guitar leads happily pop up here and there, before \u2018My Obsession\u2019 peaks into gorgeous clean guitar arpeggios, and massive reverb-soaked Ciara Doran<\/strong> drum work, that smashes through the final minute of the track wonderfully.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it\u2019s incredibly hard nicht<\/em> to like Blasse Wellen<\/strong> \u2013 at it\u2019s very core, it\u2019s all so ridiculously harmless synth pop, that simply begs you to enjoy it. There\u2019s certainly a very evident reliance on influences from both days long gone by, and more contemporary examples of artists exploring similar territory, but these influences are all channelled in such an effectively charming manner that it\u2019s hard to consider it anything more than a simple element of Blasse Wellen<\/strong> repertoire. While the band\u2019s identity Ist<\/em> heavily influenced by the styles and sounds of the 80s, the band does at least attempt to embellish their own identity throughout the EP, with concluding track, \u2018Heavenly\u2019, perhaps being the best example of this; relying less on the influences of Madonna <\/strong>Und Cyndi Lauper<\/strong>, the track instead branches into a few more modern elements, peaking gorgeously in a short, but sweet, guitar solo towards the end. Despite any reservations one might have about the style of music throughout the EP, it can\u2019t be denied that it works very<\/em> effectively, All die Dinge, die ich nie gesagt habe<\/em> being a smoothly finished, well produced insight into all that makes Blasse Wellen <\/strong>so entrancing to behold.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Formed in 2014, Pale Waves are a Manchester indie pop quartet that, since releasing their critically acclaimed 2017 debut singles, … Weiterlesen …<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":10690,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","transcript_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1680],"class_list":["post-10689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-pale-waves","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-50"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/altwire.net\/de\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}