Dark alt-pop quartet Pale Waves seems to be what used to be called a “sleeper” hit; i.e., a band that goes all but unnoticed for months or even years and then all of a sudden everybody wants to talk about it. It’s only been over the past few months that their name is popping up in the U.S. among those whose chatter matters (meaning the press and bloggers who think they’re the press). In England, that positive ink included a career-making cover on the revered NME magazine (basically UK’s Rolling Stone crossed with the National Enquirer), though American ears may find tracks such as “Television Romance” and “My Obsession” a bit too glib, or even unintentionally comedic, given the thin production and lack of any hooks or choruses that don’t seem arch in their desperation to get you to pay attention to the clever lyrics (think the Cure as if fronted by a female Benny Hill). Their EP, All the Things I Never Said, drops in February, and their first U.S. headline tour finds them playing an all-ages show at Soma on March 24.

The bill includes fellow Brits Inheaven, an alt-rock quartet from South London who’ve been dropping singles since summer 2015 but only released their debut self-titled album last September. Britain seem to love that one, too, with NME calling it “indie’s most dangerously exciting debut album.” Ignoring the fact that “indie” isn’t really a genre, it’s more of an adjective (and yet NME uses it as a noun), this seems a deliriously excited overstatement. After sampling several tracks, we’re calling Inheaven the frontrunner in a crowded field of competitors hoping to be this year’s My Bloody Valentine or Arctic Monkeys.