Album Review: Pale Waves - My Mind Makes Noises

Manchester's Pale Waves have turned in a truly insipid record that, while liberally peppered with shimmery guitar-driven yacht rock-lit touches, lacks any sort of conceptual framework beyond "make it shiny".

My Mind Makes Noises (Jesus, that title) is rote and weak, reluctant to really lean into, well, anything. Lead vocalist Heather Baron-Gracie sounds bored, and while her voice is technically proficient, it sounds utterly anonymous. You don't believe (or remember) anything she sings about and that drags down the rest of the relatively slick (yet strangely flat) production. Here and there sounds pop up that betray their affection for The Cure or The Cranberries, but others listed on their Wiki page (Prince? Madonna?) are entirely absent. Hard pass.