Newcastle alt-rock brothers The Pale White return to announce their third studio album Inanimate Objects of the 21st Century, coming alongside a brand-new single ‘Absolute Cinema’.
Speaking on new single, The Pale White frontman Adam Hope says, “Absolute Cinema’ is a love letter to the big screen. When we were kids in the mid-2000s, ‘going to the pictures’ with a tenner would get you your film ticket, fast food, and the bus fare home. Packed to the rafters with film heads who had eagerly anticipated that week’s new release, you’d take in every second – knowing you wouldn’t see it again for another six months until it finally came out on DVD.
“Facing facts, it’s not what it once was. The cinema has become just another inanimate object crying for help as we navigate through this century. This song hopes to remind people how important film is to our culture and pays ode to some of our favourites including Martin Scorsese, the face of the well-known meme “Absolute Cinema.” Even if he never actually said it, the fact that he’s become the automatic barometer for incredible filmmaking speaks for itself.”
Listen to ‘Absolute Cinema’ on Geordie Beats.
Following the success of their self-titled debut and the introspective ambition of sophomore album The Big Sad, brothers Adam (vocals/guitar) and Jack Hope (drums) return louder, sharper, and more defiant than ever. This third full-length – due for release on March 27 via End of the Wall Recordings – is their most expansive yet: a record that blends the anthemic punch of classic rock with the urgency and edge of modern alternative.
The Pale White recorded their first album and accompanying singles in studios in London and Kent, with an outside producer. But by the time they started working on their sophomore album, The Big Sad, the collective mindset, according to Adam, was: “Stop chasing. Come home. Be at home. Be ourselves. Just see what happens. And we’ve gotten the best out of what we can be doing that. It was nice to have total freedom and put our own stamp on it.” Writing and recording back on home turf in the northeast, the band embraced the freedom of being fully in charge. For these proud sons of the northeast, going home meant one more powerful burst of artistic expression.
The title, Inanimate Objects of the 21st Century, is a nudge to the uncomfortable irony of our time – as technology accelerates, humanity feels increasingly frozen in place, with the band saying: “Technology is moving, but we are not. Human civilization entered the 21st century wide-eyed and naive with mobile phones that would barely fit in our pockets. Fast forward a few decades and we’re so far from where we were that it almost looks like a bad 80’s sci-fi movie.”
“Back then, that film would be watched in packed-out cinemas after an eagerly anticipated release, but now they stand emptier than they once were, attended mainly as a nostalgic experience in the age of Netflix and doomscrolling. The birth of AI, algorithms, cryptocurrency, drones, holographic concerts, autonomous cars… we’re living in a strange transitional period which is both fascinating and terrifying in equal measure. We humans have now in fact become the inanimate objects – mannequins.
“After our softer, melancholic second album ‘The Big Sad’, we felt it was only right to move as fast as our world is moving and release our next within the year. ‘Inanimate Objects of the 21st Century’ is the evil twin, the Yin to The Big Sad’s Yang.”
