PALES’ latest EP ‘Crush’ seamlessly combines the grittiness of Post-Punk, the chaos of Noise Rock, all with a Pop element that maintains that the songs sound good. Standing at only 24-minutes with a collection of five tracks, this tight, quality-driven project doesn’t lose track of the sound world established in the beginning by ‘Piece of Meat’. Each subsequent song sounds similar enough to show a stylistic intention behind the project but varied enough to give each track its own spot to shine as a standalone.
One of the binding factors of this stylistic intention is the heavy, pounding drums that contribute to the Post-Punk nature of the project. This, combined with eerie guitar riffs coated in distortion and often chromaticism and dissonance, creates a noisy, but enjoyable, style that syncs the album together. Vocalist Rose Blake sings in such a way that contrasts this audial mayhem, often utilising a spoken word approach, seedily gliding over the powerful guitar riffs. This vocal approach, however, is by no means an avoidance of melodic singing; Blake also demonstrates her proficiency for singing throughout the project on multiple tracks, noticeably on ‘Dangerous Dance’, the emotive and enticing final track.
Our favourite track on the EP was the opener, and second single released in 2024, ‘Piece of Meat’. The track oscillates between quieter verses, in which Blake’s poetic spoken lyrics are given space to breathe, and louder choruses, with heavier guitars and shouted lyrics delivered with a true Punk energy.
‘Crush’ is PALES’ first multitrack project since their 2022 ‘In Our Hands?’, and the artistic progression is noticeable. They remain raw and unpredictable, but approach this with a more professional sounding project. Having created a project of such quality now, as they grow and develop, we have no doubt that this quality will only flourish further.
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