Alan Dearling writes:
A great celebration of live music at a great Independent Music Venue. The Pale Blue Eyes’ gig at the Grayston Unity in Halifax created an almost perfect marriage of music. First up, Warm Parts provided a wall of sound, a dark undertow of Kraut-rock styled drum-driven intensity. In my mind’s eye I was taken back to the late 1960s when Hawkwind were blowing minds with pummelling, psychedelic waves of sound. Warm Parts received an enthusiastic response from the nicely packed crowd, which is not always the case for support bands. They are certainly continuing and sustaining their musical journey into the oeuvre of outsider, psychedelic weirdness – noise-rock a little akin to bands such as Wooden Shjips.
Rachael explained to me: “The band was conceived in early 2024 by myself, Rachael Elwell (synths, programming, theremin and visual artist), and I quickly recruited Dan Smith (guitars), who had moved in similar musical and creative circles, performing in various DIY and experimental bands in and around Manchester in the early 2000s. With the sound evolving and a shared desire for having live drums, we were introduced to Bryn, who, after hearing some early rehearsal recordings was keen to add to the group. With his shared musical background and style he quickly became an integral part of the band’s ever evolving sound.”
Warm Parts suggest that these are online sites where you can hear Warm Parts’ ‘Special Square’ EP (these are not clickable links):
The Pale Blue Eyes arrived on stage. They are mesmerising, professional, polished, offering propulsive rock music with a high melodic content, whilst providing quite an adrenalin rush…
Matt Board is a suitably charismatic front-man and singer with PBE, who already have a significant fan-base and much support from BBC Radio 6 Music. Matt and myself have met up before, back in the halcyon days of music in Devon’s town of Teignmouth, during the advent of Muse and the other local favourites, The Quails.
Pale Blue Eyes say that they are:
“Born of a cross-pollination between Totnes and Sheffield, Pale Blue Eyes have been steadily grafting over a number of years to exact their modernist pop vision.
At the ship’s helm, Matt and Lucy Board are a genuine marriage of two stylistic perspectives, each bringing unique sonic tropes to the table.
It is the pair’s fascination with DIY ethic, retro synths and reminiscence that truly fuels their sound world, calling upon nostalgia and a captivating optimism.
The third part of the Pale Blue Eyes triad arrived when Matt and Lucy met bassist Aubrey Simpson at South Devon’s Sea Change festival.
Together they’ve made three albums, with several tracks from the albums playlisted at BBC Radio 6 Music. They’ve played three Riley sessions, toured extensively in the UK and Europe, supported GOAT, Slowdive, Sea Power, The Editors, Public Service Broadcasting, The Midnight, FEWS and more…
The band released their third album in March 2025 on their own imprint, Broadcast Recordings. As with the first two albums the record has been produced by the band and finally mixed and mastered by Dean Honer. Honer has produced the likes of The Human League, Add N to (x) and Roisin Murphy and worked with countless Sheffield names from Jarvis Cocker to Tony Christie.”
On the current live dates, producer and musician, Lewis Johnson-Kellett joins the trio of Pale Blue Eyes on guitar and synths/keys.
Live video: https://youtu.be/0SFd5nkpFoU
Online, Stephanie Pipe recommends Pale Blue Eyes:
“…saw them when they were on with Public Service Broadcasting a couple of years ago. Blew me away. Bought several cds and merch and am excited to see them back in Sheffield again soon…”
Pale Blue Eyes add: “Thanks to Marc Riley and Gideon Coe for including our track ‘The Dreamer’ in their best of 2025 show on BBC Radio 6 Music in amongst some class tracks! Cheers to them, and to those who tune in.”
It was a great event to celebrate the importance and cultural contribution of the UK’s Independent Venues.
‘Signify’…jangling, guitar pop with disembodied vocals…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbf6EsAf8ag
‘The Dreamer’ (2025) …A thing of Floating effervescence… Official video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUbdIWLpGls
‘New Place’ film about making their PBE third album (2024):