Newcastle alt-rock trio The Pale White have unveiled their new single Final Exit. The latest release comes from their upcoming sophomore album The Big Sad, due for release on 18th April 2025 via the North-East’s own End of the Wall Recordings. The new track is a glorious example of the growth of frontman Adam Hope’s songwriting. In its chiming guitars, folksy-but-modern feel, lush strings and soaring harmonies, it evokes peak R.E.M. Think: ‘Imitation of Life’ filtered through the worldview of three twentysomething, working-class lads from the northeast.
The Pale White @ Oslo
Speaking on the track, Adam says: “From lovers, to strangers. Final Exit is the last goodbye to someone you’ve shared a huge portion of your life with. You both don’t quite know how you got here, but you’re both here nevertheless. To me, this song is a hypothetical reminder to love and allow yourself to be loved every day.”
“The Big Sad: an album born from the ashes of dark times, but representing a beacon of light for the future. An album of honesty and purity, one that our current fanbase sonically may not be expecting. The sound of a band that got tired of slamming on the fuzz pedal to tick the ‘rock’ box and dares to try something new, dares to shock, dares to be great.”
This is the northeast calling, with songs of stillness, reflection, renewal, defiance, hope, classic melodies and, at certain perfectly judged moments, furniture-shifting riffs. With a powerful album shaped by pandemic-era loss (of momentum, and the departure of a band member), and by the wins brought by what singer/songwriter/guitarist Adam Hope describes as a “weight lifted off my shoulders”. With a fresh, front-footed, fired-up approach that owes everything to a band returning to their roots in Wallsend and Newcastle – and, for the first time, making their music entirely on their own independent terms: self-produced and self-confident.
This is the return of The Pale White with, in all its surging emotion and pitch-perfect songcraft, the 13-track triumph that is The Big Sad.
The Pale White @ Oslo
The band, fronted by Adam Hope with his younger brother Jack Hope on drums – with Dave Barrow on bass are a testament to the North East’s recent emergence of bright talent. At the time devoid of fresh blood, Newcastle quickly became alight with buzz around The Pale White upon their formation in 2016. Brothers Adam and Jack, then joined by Tom Booth, honed their skills as a ferocious three-piece and quickly settled into a rhythm of their own with a self-titled EP in 2017 and 2018’s hip-swaggering Take Me To The Strange before releasing their debut 2021 album Infinite Pleasure.
Heads were quickly turning and with ongoing support from Radio 1, Radio X and Triple J, the band’s tunes were playing up and down the country. Highlighted as “one of the North East’s hottest groups” by NME and their tunes praised as “filthy, QOTSA-esque stoner rock” by The Independent in a 5-star live review, local hype soon translated into widespread acclaim, huge support slots and impressive festival appearances.
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