Pastel – Souls In Motion

On their debut, Pastel, the riotous, unkempt and occasionally moving Manchester rockers, who most famously toured with Britpop titan Liam Gallagher on his Knebworth Tour, strive to breathe new life into the long-lost Madchester sound with their album Souls In Motion.

The album kicks off with Heroes Blood: an opener brimming with northern swagger and a thunderous introduction to Pastel that’s tinged with notes of The Verve, which slowly creeps into life with the whir of an unwieldy amplifier, crashing percussion and a crunching rhythm guitar. Swiftly to follow is Your Day, an infectious amalgamation of shoe gaze and dingy Stone Roses-styled rhythms. Lead vocalist Jack Yates, one of the two Yates cousins that help comprise the Manchester group, alongside lead guitarist James Yates, excels here with a chant-inducing vocal performance that, alongside its meaty Britpop riffs and overlaid backing vocals, harkens back to the years of early Oasis.

Soon to follow is Dancing on a Pin, a fuzzed-out and vicious entry with unruly guitars, clattering percussion and real head-bang-inducing energy that builds with swift momentum to a chorus compounded by lush vocals and clattering percussion. Deeper than Holy, the atmospheric centrepiece to Souls In Motion, is led by an infectious bass hook and cut with a gloriously saccharine, shoe gaze-infused lead guitar riff and perhaps the best choral run of the album: “You can’t teach this, it’s like nothing you’ve heard / Was born with this gift, you had to learn yours / What more can I say, I was just here first”. It’s a somewhat fitting message from a young new band looking to resuscitate the long-dead Madchester sound with a fresh and entirely modern spin.

Leave a Light on (Velvet Storm) later emerges and diverts almost entirely from Soul In Motion‘s earlier offerings and opens with the welcome addition of a cyclical piano melody, and a more gentle, acoustic-led guitar rhythm. It is touching on being reminiscent of the Rolling Stones, with its blues-driven structure, and controlled, purposeful vocal performance from Jack Yates that draws you in. Whilst the penned words may not be entirely inspiring, you just can’t help but be compelled by Yates’s exemplary delivery.

Pastel with Souls In Motion will undoubtedly draw plenty of comparisons to the Verve in their early A Northern Soul years, plus Oasis and the Gallaghers, from whom Jack Yates has seemingly picked up his distinct Liam Gallagher-esque drawl. That’s not to say that the group are anything close to a lazy reiteration: the Mancunian quintet here at the start of their career already subvert expectations as they dust off the tired Britpop template and wrangle it into their own unique and utterly compelling sound, with raw, unrelenting tracks that deliver a healthy dose of uncompromising indie-rock that can only leave you wondering why this genre has been left untapped for so long. A stellar and surprisingly anthemic debut from the Northern rockers.

Ronan Fawsitt
Image: Charlie Lightening

Souls In Motion is released on 17^th January 2025. For further information or to order the album visit Pastel’s website here.

Watch the video for the single Leave a Light On here: