Prima Queen - The Prize 

Having been best friends for the better part of a decade now, it’s little surprise that Louise Macphail and Kristin McFadden - aka Prima Queen - would go on to make a debut album that’s so tangibly tender and intimate. From the opener sonic swirls of ‘Clickbait’, a dream-like quality settles over ‘The Prize’ that feels both evocative and nostalgic, with it blooming into further life via the warm reflection of ‘Mexico’ and the sparkling chorus of its title track. 

As with so much of their material so far, the pair’s eye for lyrical detail is still on fine form, helping to give the album an almost diaristic stamp (see ‘Ugly’’s opening line, “Saturday of Glastonbury, I watched you play William’s Green”, or the woozy ‘Flying Ant Day’ for some of its more overt moments), while their frank, relatable admissions often tug on the heartstrings (“How could I tell you that I love you / When I know you won’t say it back?” goes ‘Spaceship’). Granted, there’s the odd moment where the twee-ness does get a little too much - ‘Sunshine Song’ and its repetitive refrain is just too sugary sweet, even with the whack of distortion added towards its close - but on the whole, ‘The Prize’ is a warm exploration of life’s intimacies that places female friendship at the centre of this pair’s universe.