Hot For 2018: International Ones To Watch (Day 3)

Pale Waves

Pale by name – and a bit peaky by nature too. Singer Heather Baron-Gracie looks like she’s just seen a ghost – and was so smitten she decided to borrow their look. Her pallid complexion, augmented by her bandmates’ pouty disposition, portends, in particular, Cure-style goth pop. And indeed the band, who met attending the BIMM Manchester music course, aren’t above the occasional spectral guitar.

But they enjoy their chiming pop moments, too, with Baron-Gracie’s vocals on break-out single ‘New Year’s Eve’ suggesting Polly Harvey if she was 20, skint and miserable. They’ve received solid support from kindred north of Englanders The 1975, with that band’s Matthew Healy gracing a UK magazine cover with Baron-Gracie, and bringing the Pale Waves along as support for their sold-out Madison Square Garden show.
Hear: The single ‘New Year’s Eve’.
See: The ‘My Obsession’ video, directed by London-based Irish filmmaker Stephen Agnew (Wolf Alice, Drenge).

Sigrid

Already a star among pop’s early adopters, the 21-year-old singer looks set to join A-ha and… well, we’re sure there must be a few others – as a rare Norwegian bestriding the global music stage. She fairly exploded onto radars with last February’s ‘Don’t Kill My Vibe’ – a kiss-off over the course of which Sigrid informs a detractor that under no circumstance will she permit her buzz to be wrecked. She’s already going places in a hurry, with her cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Everybody Knows’ playing over the Superman-is-dead sad bit at the start of Justice League. Her Dublin debut is at the Academy in March.
Hear: New single ‘Strangers’.
See: ‘Don’t Kill My Vibe’ – the video to which has already been viewed nearly five million times. The Justice League clip over which ‘Everybody Knows’ plays is also available on YouTube – though be aware it may contain traces of sad Sad Batfleck.

Mabel

Her mother is Neneh Cherry, her father Massive Attack producer Cameron McVey. With a lineage like that, Mabel was unlikely to grow up dreaming of a career in logistics management. Raised among musicians, she started writing songs as a teenager and has already had a mini-moment with single ‘Know Me Better’. This confirms her as an R&B boundary-pusher in the vein of Lauryn Hill, her swagger enlivened with millennial super-confidence and a determination to be the best version of herself she can, no matter what. She has worked with Joel Pott, formerly of Coldplay clones Athlete, and is writing her debut album.
Hear: ‘Finders Keepers’ – her smash hook-up with rapper Kojo Funds, which has notched up 25 million YouTube views.
See: A live version of ‘Finders Keepers’, recorded in January at Abbey Road, is available on her YouTube channel.

Alma

With day-glo hair and leather jackets, Alma looks like an artist not to be crossed. But her music is far more accessible than her no-nonsense image – with strains of a bluesy Adele detectable amid the gleaming beats and immaculate Scandi-production. Her March 2017 single ‘Chasing Highs’ was a top 10 smash in her native Finland and reached number 20 in the UK, where she is signed to Universal. More significantly perhaps, it has achieved 25 million YouTube views. Imminent mega-fame could be on the cards.
Hear: ‘Chasing Highs’ is really where you need to start, followed with her debut EP Dye My Hair.
See: Her cover of Zayn’s ‘Dusk Til Dawn’ awaits your perusal on the BBC Radio One Live Lounge YouTube channel.

Shame
Since the dawn of alternative rock, angry young men have been strapping on guitars and cranking out a caustic racket. Into this proud tradition step Shame, a four-piece from buzzy south London (if there’s a takeaway this year it’s that the UK capital is once again centre of the music universe).

They wear their righteous fury very much on their sleeves – so much so that they aren’t much arsed with hooks or choruses. If that sounds like a snarling f-u to fans and newcomers alike – well, that’s exactly as intended, in the healthiest sense. They’ve even weighed in on British politics, with provocative lyrics such as “Oh Theresa, baby / We’ve been going for a while / But I think I want more than your sideways smile”.
Hear: Single ‘Gold Hole’ – a cross between prime Joy Division and a mugging in a tower-block stairwell.
See: The torrid live version of ‘The Lick’, recorded at London’s Dropout Studios and filmed by Mica Levi, alternative singer-turned-soundtrack composer (Under The Skin, Jackie).

Superorganism

When the debut single by this globe-straddling eight-piece slipped onto the internet over the summer, some suspected an underground release by Tame Impala or Damon Albarn. Actually, it was a collective of collaborators located around Europe, the United States, Asia and New Zealand and Australia. Encouraged by the enthusiastic reception, they’ve convened in London and now live – yes, all eight – in a four-bedroom house in south London. They’re a bit jokey in person but deathly sincere about one particular topic: the requirement to introduce more jollies into music. “Pop music has been so serious for the past few years,” says the group’s Harry. “It feels like it needs a bit more fun injected.”
Hear: Debut single ‘Something For Your Mind’ – bonkers yet brilliant.
See: Their entire live performance at Paste studio in New York, available on YouTube.

King Nun

After a lifetime supply of singer-songwriters and glossy pop stars, could 2018 be the year fuzzy, rampaging indie rock makes its comeback? In the vanguard of the alt.revival are Londoners King Nun. The four teenagers have signed to the same UK label that helped The 1975 and Wolf Alice break through. Songs such as ‘Tulip’ are a mix of provocative and catchy. Ed Sheeran this isn’t.
See: The Sonic Youth-esque ‘Tulip’.
Hear: The live version of ’Sponge’, recorded for Vevo’s YouTube channel.