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The Austin 100: Pale Waves

Danny North
/
Courtesy of the artist

Hometown: Manchester, England

Genre: Dream Pop

Why We're Excited: Songwriters Heather Baron-Gracie and Ciara Doran love to mix elements of '80s pop into their dreamy, sparkling sound, but Pale Waves' songs feel remarkably fresh — in part because great hooks are great hooks, regardless of the era that inspired them. "Heavenly" is as gorgeous as it is infectious, which is saying something.

SXSW Schedule:

  • March 13: Latitude 30 (512 San Jacinto Blvd.)
  • March 14: Empire Control Room (606 E. 7th St.)
  • Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)