Girl Ray - Prestige

On the whole, albums conceived during the dreaded Covid years have seemed to fall into one of two categories: either introspective, melancholy explorations of the writer’s social-starved psyche; or upbeat, determinedly optimistic paeans to parties. ‘Prestige’, the third offering from London trio Girl Ray, is undoubtedly the latter. The band have taken a disco-pop motif and unapologetically run with it, pairing bouncing basslines and funky rhythms with synths galore. It’s a sound which has had its fair share of attention in recent years from pop monoliths like Dua Lipa and Kylie, but here there’s an added sense of context, as inspired by the queer ballroom scene of 1980s New York and disco’s origins as a genre of sexuality and social subversion. Lyrically direct and melodically accessible, its best tracks are buoyant club numbers about falling in love and filling the dancefloor - see the earworm groove of lead single ‘Everybody’s Saying That’, or the Wham!-adjacent, playful percussion of ‘Hold Tight’. This isn’t necessarily an album that contains multitudes, but therein lies its pure escapist charm.