Girl Ray, the three-piece comprising Poppy Hankin, Iris McConnell and Sophie Moss, have announced the release of their much anticipated third album, ‘Prestige’, on 4th August 2023 via Moshi Moshi. Co-produced by Grammy Award-winning producer, Ben H. Allen (M.I.A, Gnarls Barkley, Christina Aguilera, Deerhunter) along with the band’s singer and songwriter Poppy Hankin, ‘Prestige’ takes the shambolic charm of their debut, ‘Earl Grey’ (2017), and the indie-fied R&B of 2019’s ‘Girl’, and injects it with a booster shot of Hi-NRG eighties disco pop.
‘Prestige’ is the sound of Girl Ray reclaiming disco music as the celebration of sexuality and outsider culture it started out as. Inspired by ‘Pose’, the television drama about New York City’s queer ballroom scene in the 80s, ‘Prestige’ is an escape to a fantasy clubland, it’s dancing with your friends, it’s falling in love. In fact, the overarching narrative of ‘Prestige’ is love: falling in it and being afraid of getting hurt by it; being all alone and longing for it; the tensions between what it is and what you imagined it would be.
The album tracklisting is listed below and you can watch a handful of the album’s tunes by clicking on the links:
‘Intro’
‘True Love’
‘Up’
‘Everybody’s Saying That’
‘Love Is Enough’
‘Hold Tight’
‘Begging You Now’
‘Easy’
‘Tell Me’
‘Wanna Dance’
‘Space Song’
‘Give Me Your Love’
In support of ‘Prestige’, Girl Ray have announced an album launch instore show on the date of its release (4th August) here in Brighton at Resident in Kensington Gardens from 6:30pm. Further information on that can be located HERE.
In addition to this, Girl Ray have announced an 8-date UK and Ireland tour for this coming November and December, with the opening night being here in Brighton at Patterns on the 21st November.
The full dates are:
21/11 – Brighton, Patterns
22/11 – Bristol, Fleece
24/11 – Manchester, The Soup Kitchen
25/11 – Glasgow, Room 2
26/11 – Dublin, The Workmans Club
28/11 – Leeds, Belgrave Music Hall
29/11 – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
03/12 – London, Village Underground
Concert tour tickets can be purchased HERE.
