Newcastle alt-rock trio The Pale White have unveiled their new single “Final Exit.” The latest release comes from their upcoming sophomore album The Big Sad, due for release on April 18th 2025 via the North-East’s own End of the Wall Recordings, pre-order / save here.
The new track is a glorious example of the growth of frontman Adam’s songwriting. In its chiming guitars, folksy-but-modern feel, lush strings and soaring harmonies, it evokes peak R.E.M. Think: “Imitation of Life” filtered through the worldview of three twentysomething, working-class lads from the northeast.
Speaking on the track, frontman Adam Hope says, “From lovers, to strangers. “Final Exit” is the last goodbye to someone you’ve shared a huge portion of your life with. You both don’t quite know how you got here, but you’re both here nevertheless. To me, this song is a hypothetical reminder to love and allow yourself to be loved every day.”
“The Big Sad: an album born from the ashes of dark times, but representing a beacon of light for the future. An album of honesty and purity, one that our current fanbase sonically may not be expecting. The sound of a band that got tired of slamming on the fuzz pedal to tick the ‘rock’ box and dares to try something new, dares to shock, dares to be great.”
This is the northeast calling, with songs of stillness, reflection, renewal, defiance, hope, classic melodies and, at certain perfectly judged moments, furniture-shifting riffs. With a powerful album shaped by pandemic-era loss (of momentum, and the departure of a band member), and by the wins brought by what singer/songwriter/guitarist Adam Hope describes as a “weight lifted off my shoulders”. With a fresh, front-footed, fired-up approach that owes everything to a band returning to their roots in Wallsend and Newcastle – and, for the first time, making their music entirely on their own independent terms: self-produced and self-confident.
This is the return of The Pale White with, in all its surging emotion and pitch-perfect songcraft, the 13-track triumph that is The Big Sad.
The band, fronted by Adam Hope with his younger brother Jack Hope on drums – with Dave Barrow on bass are a testament to the North East’s recent emergence of bright talent. At the time devoid of fresh blood, Newcastle quickly became alight with buzz around The Pale White upon their formation in 2016. Brothers Adam and Jack, then joined by Tom Booth, honed their skills as a ferocious three-piece and quickly settled into a rhythm of their own with a self-titled EP in 2017 and 2018’s hip-swaggering Take Me to the Strange before releasing their debut 2021 album Infinite Pleasure.
THE PALE WHITE 2025 LIVE DATES
Supporting PIXIES:
23 April: Den Atelier, Luxembourg [SOLD OUT]
25 April: TivoliVredenburg, Utrecht [SOLD OUT]
26 April: Lotto Arena, Antwerp
28 April: Oosterpoort, Groningen [SOLD OUT]
29 April: 013, Tilburg [SOLD OUT]
01 May: Tempodrom, Berlin [SOLD OUT]
02 May: Palladium, Cologne [SOLD OUT]
03 May: Tonhalle, Munich
06 May: Arkea Arena, Bordeaux
07 May: Zenith, Nantes
09 May: Palacio de los Deportes de Granada, Granada
10 May: Sagres Campo, Lisbon
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