Making Waves With Heather Baron-Gracie

Manchester's Pale Waves are known for their black garb - frontwoman Heather Baron-Gracie especially striking with her big raven hair. But, broody undercurrents aside, Britain's hottest new band are not necessarily goth. Indeed, they dig the glimmer of classic pop far too much.

"I think people give us that label because of our image, but I see us as dark pop music," Baron-Gracie says of the 'goth' descriptor. "We're heavily influenced by the '80s era, and musicians from that time, but we love modern pop music. So I feel like we take inspiration from the past and the present and then sort of combine them both." In fact, by putting the jangle and a groove into emotive synth-rock, Pale Waves could be a Mancunian Paramore.

Pale Waves formed in 2014 out of Baron-Gracie's friendship with drummer Ciara Doran. Both hailing from northern English towns (Baron-Gracie's hometown is Preston in Lancashire), they met at music school in Manchester. Baron-Gracie had envisaged herself as a solo singer-songwriter toting an acoustic guitar. However, she clicked with Doran. They conceived a rockier vehicle, with Baron-Gracie on rhythm guitar. Today the besties remain the core of the band - even after being joined by lead guitarist Hugo Silvani and bassist Charlie Wood. "Ciara is basically my soulmate," Baron-Gracie laughs. "We get along so well. She's like another half to me. I guess I'm sort of the driven, bossy one. Ciara's the more subtle one, underneath me. Then the boys are just really passionate about music and love playing live, so they let me and Ciara take the lead. They're perfectly fine with that."

Signed to the London indie label Dirty Hit, Pale Waves have a close relationship with their labelmates, The 1975. Lead singer Matthew Healy co-produced the quartet's premiere single, There's A Honey, and its follow-up, Television Romance (also directing the video). Additionally, Pale Waves have supported The 1975 - even at Madison Square Garden. In February, Pale Waves issued their first EP, All The Things I Never Said. In a crossover bid, they shot a slickly dramatic clip for Heavenly, centring on Baron-Gracie. Recently, Pale Waves aired the single Kiss - which was synced for Netflix's emo TV hit 13 Reasons Why.

Pale Waves have maintained ties to Manchester - and, considering the city's music history, that affords them an automatic allure. Still, Baron-Gracie doubts that the connection is relevant in the digital age. "I don't really feel like it's an advantage because, if you create great music, it doesn't really matter where you're from; people will just listen."

Pale Waves often cite inspirations such as The Cure (for whom they're opening in London this July), Prince and Madonna. There are also guilty pleasures. "I love Avril Lavigne!" Baron-Gracie geeks. "Ciara actually listens to a lot of rap music and R&B music - she loves Brockhampton."

Between live dates, Pale Waves have been busy recording their debut album that's due this year. Baron-Gracie is pleased with its progress. "We have about a week left in the studio now, so we're quite close to the end - we can see the finish line," she shares. "But it's coming together really nicely. I think it's gonna be amazing!" The vocalist has indicated that her lyrics will be darker - and more personal. "From the singles, there's only so much you can say with those in a four-track EP. So, with an album, you get the space to be more creative. It allows you more room to show your sides of songwriting that you wouldn't be able to show really on a four-track EP. [The album] just basically talks about more issues than romantic issues. It talks about issues that I have with myself, some mental health issues... It just gets pretty deep and dark!"

This winter, Pale Waves - who sell out shows at home - are hitting Australia for their first Antipodean tour, playing some very intimate venues. Will they preview any album tracks? "We possibly might play some new songs - we haven't actually decided on the set as yet. But, from our live performance, we try to give a really fun show and put all of our energy into it and just play the most honest performance we possibly can give."