Girl Ray, the north London trio comprising Poppy Hankin, Iris McConnell and Sophie Moss, have got poppier with each album release. From the slightly scrappy, indie-adjacent roots of their 2017 debut, Earl Grey, to nods to R&B on Girl. On third album Prestige, they’ve gone full strutting disco and 80s-style synthpop, a sound that brings to mind 2000s acts such as Ladyhawke.
It works: the record embodies an enticingly fun and loose world. Intro offers up the murmured textures of people arriving at a club, inviting you through its doors ahead of the shimmying guitar zigzags and airy drums of True Love and Up. Topped with Hankin’s deadpan vocals, there are spangly, sleek numbers such as Tell Me (with suitably corny lyrics such as “Baby, we were hot like a cigar”). The album’s euphoric highlight is closing track Give Me Your Love, with its warm flecks of steel pans, breezy vocal harmonies, spiky bassline and house-style crescendos of pianos.
While it’s a little repetitive in places, Prestige is a sumptuous collection that finds a polished band leaning into the joys of being playful.
