Our third album ‘Prestige’ will be dropping on August 4th via Moshi Moshi Records. Thank you to everyone who helped make it, and everyone who listens to our songs, we are grateful for you all! This album is pure fantasy, and we can’t wait to welcome you into the world we’ve created.
About the track, “Everybody’s Saying That” the band’s guitarist and lead singer, Poppy Hankin, said: “The lyrics on this single were inspired by the straight-to-the-heart simplicity of the disco greats. I wrote it while missing my partner while on tour in 2020, and it plays on themes of new love and self-doubt. Musically we took reference from the nu-disco resurgence that seemed to be taking off in 2020, in particular from the likes of Kylie Minogue (Disco), Jessie Ware (What’s Your Pleasure?), Dua Lipa (Future Nostalgia) and Róisín Murphy (Róisín Machine). We were really inspired by all of these women re-imagining disco.”
What a lovely vibe Girl Ray have been cultivating for the past half-decade or so. “Hold Tight” is a prime example of the UK trio’s signature style: minimal yet eclectic, playful and melancholic all at once, like if Haim were hopping on Vampire Weekend tracks when Rostam was still in the band. Every component of the track feels like a hook, be it that groovy bass, those hip-shaking acoustic strums, the sunshine guitar bursts, or the drumbeat that carries just the faintest whiff of the disco vibes from prior single “Everybody’s Saying That.” Amidst it all is Poppy Hankin, quietly professing a love that defies the deniers and even dishes out some low-stakes hate of its own: “Talking shit in the grass would be just fine, my baby.”
The new single, “Hold Tight”, is accompanied by a video directed by their long term collaborator, Alex Cantouris. With the lyrics “Call me when you want to get a coke and sit on the wall”, it feels like a gigantic Wordsworthian declaration of love. Poppy said the following about the track, “Lyrically this songs is about how appreciative I am to have found my partner, and how my mental load feels so much lighter and easier to bear now that I’m with her. The production on this takes some inspiration from Haim’s incredible record ‘Women in Music Pt. III’, and features a subby drum loop inspired by Atlanta’s hip hop scene.” Speaking of the video, Poppy said “Despite being caught in heavy rain the whole day, falling over in the mud countless times, and Alex constantly holding an umbrella over the camera, this video was so much fun to make, and we will remember it as one of our favourite shoots.” Director Alex Cantouris explained “To mark the 8th video me and Girl Ray have done together, and to celebrate almost 10 years of working alongside each other, we thought what better way to honour the occasion than to drive seven hours to the Lake District and spend a whole day filming in the rain. Fortunately the rain made the perfect backdrop for us to combine our theme of Bananarama meets 19th century Western aesthetic. Frankly, once cow patterned clothes were mentioned, the video really made itself.”
Girl Ray, the three-piece comprising Poppy Hankin, Iris McConnell and Sophie Moss, announce their much anticipated third album, “Prestige”, on 4th August 2023 via Moshi Moshi:
Produced by Ben H Allen and Poppy in Atlanta, Georgia, at Maze Studios.
The Fat Angel Sings 