Pale Grey (BE)

Following the album “Waves” and its four million streams, Pale Grey now looks ahead with “It feels like I always knew you,” the third album of a perceptive band, aware of the world’s turmoil and the challenges of the times. Emerging from the heights of Belgium, nestled between eternal forests and a yearning for elsewhere, the quartet nurtures its melancholy through delicately charming songs. At the crossroads of electronica, dream pop, and the abstractions of the hip-hop scene, Pale Grey sketches out a unique universe.

Crafted in one of the secret gardens of Belgian jazz alongside producer Ash Workman (Metronomy, Christine and the Queens, Baxter Dury), “It feels like I always knew you” takes us to the heart of daily life. A moment during a public transport ride. There, among other passengers, the mind wanders, trying to imagine others’ lives. In the blink of an eye, imagination thrives, freely drifting between fiction and reality, intuition and irrational certainties. Like in an Iñárritu film, poetic evocation here triumphs over any realistic depiction.

Pale Grey’s new album stands as a comforting ode to modern society through melodies etched close to reality. Close to people and their experiences, the band delves into and questions human nature. Strengths and weaknesses, love, wisdom, hope, and wanderings are intertwined in songs personalized with twelve first names. These characters are the commuters of the new “It feels like I always knew you.” Their journeys touch upon themes rooted in a disenchanted everyday life: the migration crisis, domestic violence, obscurantism, and other sensitive subjects traverse these lived stories…

To embody the themes in its songs, Pale Grey blends music with imagery. From Amin to Eve, from Felix to Norma, and from Winston to Alba, the faces of the extras in the new music videos have all experienced situations similar to those addressed in the songs. Staying close to these paths, brimming with unexpected emotions, Pale Grey follows a journey shared by thousands of lives.