The first thing that strikes you about Pale Waves’ Unwanted is that it is loud. Like, loud in the volume sense. Even with the dial turned down it still sounds up. It isn’t background music. All this is by design on an album that takes the Manchester band’s sound from the soft focus of indie and synth-pop toward something harder and more immediate. You could call it pop-punk, so long as it is on the understanding that the needle ping-pongs between either extreme.
Lead singer and guitarist Heather Baron-Gracie admits the volume is crucial, perhaps never more so than on occasions such as this when she knew exactly what she wanted to say with the songs. When you’re certain about something, volume becomes an important dynamic; it makes you want to shout.
“We all listen to music so loud, and we always get told off because we have our
