Having been personally chosen by Liam Gallagher to open his biblical Knebworth Park weekender, Pastel have showed that the newcomers are natural stars on the biggest of stages. Now the Manchester quintet release their first new music single since that landmark show as they share the new single ‘Escape’.
The feeling that Pastel have emerged fully formed is amplified by ‘Escape’. Coming across like a modernised missing link between the sprawling psychedelia of early Verve and the spacious shoegaze of Ride, ‘Escape’ constantly grows in stature. Yet frontman Jack Yates’ voice is never submerged by the wall-of-sound guitars, allowing the band to keep an anthemic edge to their heavyweight soundscape.
Jack says, “This is a song mindlessly written after a weighty acid trip… ‘She melts in your mouth’… You do the maths.”
Pastel recorded ‘Escape’ with producer J. Fender, the frontman of fellow Manchester rising stars Afflecks Palace and the founder of both bands’ record label, Spirit of Spike Island. It was mixed by James Kenosha and then mastered by John Davis (The Killers, Foals, IDLES) at Metropolis in London.
J. Fender also filmed the accompanying video for ‘Escape’, which opens with Jack crossing the Humber Bridge before he’s joined one-by-one by the rest of the band. This footage is interspersed by clips of their day at Knebworth Park captured by Sophie Sandor, which includes meeting the Stone Roses legend John Squire. The 9mm gives it an immediately nostalgic vibe, providing evocative flashbacks to Woodstock and Spike Island, but capturing at one of the biggest live music events of 2022.
JULY – WITH AFFLECKS PALACE
27th – Glasgow, King Tuts (SOLD OUT)
28th – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
29th – Manchester, Academy 2
30th – London, Islington Assembly Hall
AUGUST
8th – Leeds, Rewired Festival, The Brudenell Social Club (headliners)
SEPTEMBER – WITH AFFLECKS PALACE
20th – Oxford, The Bullingdon
21st – Exeter, The Cavern
22nd – Swansea, The Bunkhouse
23rd – Ramsgate, Music Hall
24th – Bedford, Esquires
25th – Norwich, The Waterfront
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