My Mind Makes Noises

On 4 January 2018, Heather Baron-Gracie announced via Twitter that the band had started recording their debut album. Speaking to the BBC about the band's debut album, Heather Baron-Gracie talked about how the album is shaping up and its darker tone, "The songs we have out now are very influenced by romance.[6] The album is me talking about a lot of my darker issues. I talk about a lot of things that go on in my mind rather than in my heart". Talking about a new song the band had been working on called "Noises", Drummer Ciara Doran had some of the lyrics tattooed on herself saying "my mind makes noises". She said in the BBC interview, "It's my favourite lyric. That's the most personal song she's ever written. I love that song. That's all about Heather's world".[7]

In an interview with Music Week on 15 January 2018, Baron-Gracie talked about the upcoming album: "a lot of people have only heard our pop songs, so I can't wait to give them the other side of Pale Waves, which is super dark and vulnerable. We're growing so fast, I just want to keep that energy".[8]

On 2 June 2018, the band tweeted out "My Mind Makes Noises 2018" which at the time was assumed correctly to be the title of the album.[9] On 13 June 2018, Baron-Gracie tweeted out "The album is finished", signifying that the band had finished recording their debut album.[10] The album was produced by Jonathan Gilmore with the exception of "Television Romance" and "There's a Honey" which were produced by George Daniel and Matthew Healy of The 1975. Additional production was provided by Ciara Doran on the entire album with Gilmore helping remix the two The 1975-produced tracks.[3]

The album's first single "There's a Honey" was released on 20 February 2017. It was followed by "Television Romance" on 16 August 2017. "There's a Honey" was re-released on 10 November 2017 along with "Television Romance" as a limited edition white 7" double A-side single.[11]

"Kiss" was released as the album's third single on 15 May 2018. The song was named Hottest Record in the World on release day getting its world premier on Annie Mac's Radio 1 show. Kiss was also featured on Radio 1's B-list on their official playlist throughout July 2018.[7] The song was mistakenly leaked on Spotify early on 27 April 2017 but was taken down shortly after.[12]

The fourth single "Noises" was released on 28 June 2018 as a download and through online streaming services.[13]

On 24 July 2018, the band premiered "Eighteen" on Annie Mac's Radio 1 show with the presenter naming the song "Hottest Record in the World" for that day.[14] The band also revealed that the album would be called My Mind Makes Noises, with the title taken from the lyrics to the song "Noises". The album was released on 14 September 2018 through streaming services and as a download, also physically on cassette tape, CD and vinyl record. The first thousand pre-orders of the vinyl version of the record through the Dirty Hit store came with an exclusive, original photograph from the band's personal archive.[15] "Eighteen" was featured on Radio 1's A-list on the stations official playlist in September 2018.

The sixth single from the album, "Black", was released on 14 August 2018. The song was premiered on Zane Lowe's Beats1 radio show and named his "World Record".[16] "One More Time" was released on 13 September 2018 as the seventh single.[17]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Album of the Year	67/100[5]
Metacritic	61/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Clash	[18]
DIY	[19]
Dork	[20]
Exclaim!	[21]
The Guardian	[1]
The Independent	[22]
The Line of Best Fit	[23]
NME	[24]
Q	[4]

The record received mostly positive reviews from music critics. At review aggregation website Metacritic the album has an average score of 61 out of 100 indicating "generally favorable reviews" based on 10 reviews.[4] At Album of the Year the album received an average score of 67 out of 100 based on 13 reviews.[5] Dork magazine gave the album a perfect score; reviewer Stephen Ackroyd gave high praise stating the album is "a glorious coronation, plain and simple", calling My Mind Makes Noises a record of "such assured confidence it belies just how raw Pale Waves still are."[20]

The Line of Best Fit gave the album a highly positive review, with writer Sean Ward praised the band's ambition to resurrect guitar music: "As we are constantly reminded guitar music is long deceased, four musicians arrive who look, aptly, as though they have come back from the dead.", summarizing the urgency of the record; "...My Mind Makes Noises is both immediate and idiosyncratic."[23] Thomas Smith of NME called the album "an impressive, deft debut", summarizing the debut as "emotional, arresting and endearing".[24]

The Independent gave the album a mixed review. Roisin O'Connor praised the potential of the band but decried the "awful lot of mimicry" on the album, then gave warning to the band to find their own sound or "risk being known as little more than The 1975's pale imitators."[22] Alexis Petridis reviewing the album for The Guardian also gave the album a mixed review, describing the record as "an album with ambitions bigger than its abilities" and comparing the band to other pop artists; "what Pale Waves really sound like is Taylor Swift in 80s retro mode".[1]

The album charted at number five on the midweek UK Albums Chart Update.[28] On 21 September 2018, the album debuted at number eight on the UK Albums Chart with 7,110 copies sold in its first week.[29] The record was also the best-selling cassette tape of the week.[30] In its second week on the chart the record fell to number 60 on the albums chart.[31] The album failed to enter the Billboard 200 in the US upon release, but did debut at number one on the Heatseekers Albums chart and number 39 on the Top Album Sales chart with sales of 3,000 copies.[32]

All tracks are written by Ciara Doran and Heather Baron-Gracie.

Credits adapted from the liner notes of My Mind Makes Noises.[3]