Cover Feature Class of 2018: Pale Waves

No debut single this year has been received quite like that of Pale Waves. ‘There’s A Honey’ emerged in February, an instantly addictive cut of sugary, shiny pop. The Manchester four-piece already looked and sounded like world-beaters after less than four minutes.

Fast forward eight months, through similarly fully-formed second single ‘Television Romance’, sets at Reading & Leeds and beyond, and - oh yeah - that small matter of a US arena tour with The 1975 that included a show at Madison Square Garden.

It’s a sudden rise that’d see even the most level-headed of performers taken aback, but for vocalist Heather Baron-Gracie, it’s simply a case of her plan for world domination falling into place, piece by piece.

Though the release of ‘There’s A Honey’ appears on the surface as an effortless debut single, it was the product of years of hard graft away from the spotlight. Burying themselves away in the basement of the Night & Day Cafe in Manchester’s Northern Quarter for the two years prior to its release, Heather and drummer Ciara Doran hammered away at a growing arsenal of similarly brilliant indie-pop songs, recruiting guitarist Hugo Silvani and bassist Charlie Wood in the process.