News
Prestige Due Out August 4 via Moshi Moshi
Jun 27, 2023
By Mark Redfern
London trio Girl Ray are releasing a new album, Prestige. Now they have shared another new song from it, “Love Is Enough,” via a music video featuring the band dressed in black suits performing the song by the River Thames in London More
Plus Kieran Hebden and William Tyler, Nation of Language, Julie Byrne, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
May 19, 2023
By Mark Redfern
Welcome to the 18th Songs of the Week of 2023. We have a strong Top 4 this week, even though it wasn’t the most active seven days for new tracks. More
Prestige Due Out August 4 via Moshi Moshi
May 16, 2023
By Mark Redfern
London trio Girl Ray are releasing a new album, Prestige, on August 4 via Moshi Moshi. Now they have shared another new song from it, “Up,” and announced some new UK and European tour dates. More
Plus Blondshell, Girl Ray, Little Dragon, Dawn Richard, Indigo De Souza, and a Wrap-up of the Last Two Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Apr 14, 2023
By Mark Redfern (with Caleb Campbell)
Welcome to the thirteenth Songs of the Week of 2023. We didn’t do a Songs of the Week last week because I was on a brief vacation (it was my daughter’s spring break), so this week’s list includes songs from the last two weeks. Any song first released between April 1 and April 14 was eligible. Hence we have a supersized list week—22 songs is probably the most we’ve ever had in one Songs of the Week main list, but it breaks down to 12 songs from this week and 10 from last week. More
Prestige Due Out August 4 via Moshi Moshi
Apr 11, 2023
By Mark Redfern
London trio Girl Ray have announced a new album, Prestige, and shared a new song from it, “Hold Tight,” via a music video. More
Plus Wings of Desire, Alex Lahey, The WAEVE, H. Hawkline, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Feb 03, 2023
By Mark Redfern
Welcome to the fifth Songs of the Week of 2023. There were lots of strong contenders this week, the Top 7 is especially solid. We settled on a Top 12 this week. More
New Single Out Now via Moshi Moshi
Feb 01, 2023
By Mark Redfern
London trio Girl Ray have shared a new song, “Everybody’s Saying That,” via a music video. More
Covers of Covers Due Out March 4, 2022 via American Laundromat; Also Features Cassandra Jenkins, Alex Lahey, Peter Bjorn and John, Hatchie, Nation of Language, Cults, Kevin Drew, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Girl Ray, Piroshka, and More
Dec 21, 2021
By Mark Redfern
Under the Radar is proud to announce Covers of Covers, which is the magazine’s first ever album. In honor of our 20th anniversary we approached some of our favorite musicians and asked them to cover any song by any artist who had been on the front or back cover of our print issue over the years. Covers of Covers is due out March 4, 2022 via American Laundromat, but today we are sharing two of its tracks: Grandaddy’s cover of Metric’s “Blindness” and EMA’s cover of Modest Mouse’s “Trailer Trash.” More
All Proceeds From Cover To Support Hackney Night Shelter
Dec 02, 2021
By Joey Arnone
North London trio Girl Ray have shared a video for their new cover of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s 2001 song “Murder on the Dancefloor.” All proceeds from the cover will go toward supporting the Hackney Night Shelter. The Poppy Hankin-directed video depicts the trio as office workers at a Christmas party. More
Plus Chelsea Wolfe, Modest Mouse, Gone to Color, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
May 28, 2021
By Mark Redfern
Welcome to the 20th Songs of the Week of 2021. This week, Republicans successfully blocked a commission that would have probed the January 6 storming of the Capitol. More
Single Out Now via Moshi Moshi; Produced by Joe Goddard and Al Doyle from Hot Chip
May 27, 2021
By Mark Redfern
North London trio Girl Ray have shared a brand new song, the near eight-minute long “Give Me Your Love,” via a video for it. Joe Goddard and Al Doyle from Hot Chip produced the song. The video is inspired by the film Midsommar. More
Take a Visit to the Band’s North London Studio and Watch Them Perform There
Jul 08, 2020
By Samantha Small
Girl Ray singer Poppy Hankin let Under the Radar inside her North London home, which just so happens to be where almost all the songs of the indie-pop trio’s discography were written. Longtime Under the Radar photographer James Loveday directed and shot the At Home With Girl Ray short documentary. More
Plus Girl Ray, Field Music, Max Bloom, SASAMI, and a Wrap-up of the Week’s Other Notable New Tracks
Nov 22, 2019
By Christopher Roberts
Welcome to another Songs of the Week. There were quite a few notable cover songs released this week, including some of the Christmas variety, but not as many strong originals as the last couple of weeks. Hence we are down to a Top 8 instead of our preferred Top 10. More
Girl Out Now via Moshi Moshi
Nov 22, 2019
By Christopher Roberts
North London trio Girl Ray have released a new album, Girl, today via Moshi Moshi. Now that the album is out, you can stream the whole thing below. Also on Wednesday we posted our My Firsts interview with the band and you can read that here. Also below are their upcoming tour dates. More
Plus Corridor, Michael Stipe, Caribou, Girl Ray, and a Wrap-up of the Week's Other Notable New Tracks
Oct 11, 2019
By Christopher Roberts
Welcome to another Songs of the Week. Last week we covered two week’s worth of songs, but this week we’re back to our regular coverage. Although there are a heck of a lot of honorable mentions this week. More
Girl Due Out November 8 via Moshi Moshi
Oct 08, 2019
By Christopher Roberts
North London trio Girl Ray are releasing a new album, Girl, on November 8 via Moshi Moshi. Now they have shared its title track, “Girl,” via a video for the song. Crusoe Weston directed the video, which features the trio driving to the beach. More
Plus Blanck Mass, Cross Record, Girl Ray, Bodywash, and a Wrap-up of the Week's Other Notable New Tracks
Aug 02, 2019
By Christopher Roberts
Welcome to another Songs of the Week. As soon as this week’s #1 song was shared on Tuesday morning we knew it would be the song to beat this week and it easily held off all challengers. Although, there were strong showings at #2 and #3 too. More
Girl Due Out November 8 via Moshi Moshi
Jul 31, 2019
By Christopher Roberts
North London trio Girl Ray have announced a new album, Girl, and shared a video for its first single, “Show Me More.” Girl is due out November 8 via Moshi Moshi. They’ve also announced some UK tour dates. Watch the “Show Me More” video below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover art, as well as the tour dates. More
Band Currently Touring America
Feb 27, 2018
By Christopher Roberts
Girl Ray are a promising new trio from North London featuring Poppy Hankin (guitar/vocals), Iris McConnell (drums), and Sophie Moss (bass). After putting out a series of great singles, the band released their debut album, the cleverly titled Earl Grey, last August via Moshi Moshi (it was our Album of the Week and #3 on our Top 15 Debut Albums of 2017 list.). Now they have shared another new song, “The Way We Came Back,” via a video. More
Low, Ought, Gaz Coombes, Girl Ray, Sunflower Bean, U.S. Girls, Hinds, and More Added to the List
Jan 10, 2018
By Christopher Roberts
SXSW (aka South By Southwest), the annual conference/festival in Austin, Texas, previously announced the first round of 2018 musical performers, as well as the second round. Now they have announced the third round of artists to be performing during the music portion (there’s also film and interactive portions) in 2018 and it’s a long list featuring 570 artists! More
Our Favorite First Full-Lengths From the Last Year
Dec 31, 2017
By Mark Redfern
The majority of 2017’s best debut albums came from female artists or bands fronted by women, from London-based all-female indie-pop teenaged trio Girl Ray and Syria-born singer/songwriter Bedouine (aka Azniv Korkejian) to Australian indie rocker Alex Lahey and New Zealand bedroom pop artist Fazerdaze (aka Amelia Murray). Midnight Sister, Priests, and Charly Bliss are all female-fronted bands as well, on top of other women solo artists on our Top 15 Debut Albums of 2017 list. More
7-Inch Single Out Now via Moshi Moshi
Dec 11, 2017
By Christopher Roberts
Girl Ray are a promising new British trio. Poppy Hankin (guitar/vocals), Iris McConnell (drums), and Sophie Moss (bass) are all 19 years old and from North London (although perhaps some of its members might be 20 by now for all we know). Last month they shared a new Christmas song, ”(I Wish I Were Giving You a Gift) This Christmas,” which was released as a 7-inch last Friday via Moshi Moshi. Now the song has a video. More
7-Inch Single Due Out December 8 via Moshi Moshi
Nov 21, 2017
By Christopher Roberts
Girl Ray are a promising new British trio. Poppy Hankin (guitar/vocals), Iris McConnell (drums), and Sophie Moss (bass) are all 19 years old and from North London. Now they have shared a new Christmas song, “(I Wish I Were Giving You a Gift) This Christmas.” More
Earl Grey Out Now via Moshi Moshi
Aug 22, 2017
By Christopher Roberts
Girl Ray are a promising new British trio. Poppy Hankin (guitar/vocals), Iris McConnell (drums), and Sophie Moss (bass) are all 19 years old and from North London. Now they have shared a video for “Don’t Go Back at Ten.” In it they parody R&B videos from the early 2000s, with the band and friends clowning around in front of a green screen in hoodies and cowgirl outfits. More
Earl Grey Out Now via Moshi Moshi
Aug 04, 2017
By Ellen Peirson-Hagger
Londoners Poppy Hankin, Iris McConnell, and Sophie Moss were 16 years old when they formed Girl Ray and recorded their first single, “Trouble.” They’re still just 19. Being a teenager is about feeling every emotion right down to the core and crowding round your friends to sink into these feelings with every might, because who knows? They might just consume you. More
Issue 61 Also Includes Interviews with The War on Drugs, The National, Broken Social Scene, Slowdive vs. Ariel Pink, Phoenix, Beach House, and Much More
Jul 18, 2017
By Christopher Roberts
Under the Radar is excited to announce the full details of our Summer 2017 Issue, which is out now digitally via Under the Radar’s app and the magazine app Readly. The print version has shipped out to subscribers and stores and will be on all newsstands soon (as well as available soon digitally via the magazine app Zinio). The issue features Grizzly Bear on the cover. More
Plus The National, Temples, Widowspeak, Deerhoof, Girl Ray, EMA, and a Wrap-up of the Week's Other Notable New Tracks
Jun 30, 2017
By Christopher Roberts
Despite leading up to a long holiday weekend, it was a packed week for great new songs. Quite a few notable artists shared new songs this week, including Arcade Fire, St. Vincent, The National, Liam Gallagher, Neil Young, Mogwai, Weezer, Broken Social Scene, Toro Y Moi, and more. More
Earl Grey Due Out August 4 via Moshi Moshi
Jun 28, 2017
By Christopher Roberts
Girl Ray are a promising new British trio. Poppy Hankin (guitar/vocals), Iris McConnell (drums), and Sophie Moss (bass) are all 19 years old and from North London. More
Interviews
Track-by-Track: Each Artist on Their Contribution to the Album
Mar 04, 2022
By Mark Redfern
When hatching plans to celebrate Under the Radar’s 20th anniversary I knew I wanted to go beyond just producing a special 20th anniversary issue. Despite two decades of writing about albums, one thing we’d never done is actually put one out ourselves. Thus I came upon the idea for Covers of Covers. The concept was so perfect and simple that I’m surprised we hadn’t thought of it before. We approached some of our favorite musicians and asked them to cover any song by any artist who had been on the front or back cover of our print issue over the years, including artists that had appeared in group cover shots. More
Nov 20, 2019
By Mark Redfern
My Firsts is our email interview series where we ask musicians to tell us about their first life experiences, be it early childhood ones (first word, first concert, etc.) or their first tastes of being a musician (first band, first tour, etc.). For this My Firsts we talk to all three members of Girl Ray: Poppy Hankin, Sophie Moss, and Iris McConnell. More
Sep 13, 2017
By Ilana Kaplan
At the heart of North London trio Girl Ray is a massive love for puns. From their debut album title Earl Grey to the band name itself, Girl Ray, Poppy Hankin, Iris McConnell, and Sophie Moss are amused by a good play on words. More
Reviews
Nov 29, 2019
By Andy Von Pip
There was a time when any attempt by an indie band to “pivot to pop” would be viewed with deep suspicion and no small amount of cynicism. But since the advent of streaming services and social media music has become a far less tribal affair with people much more open and willing to embrace a wide variety of genres. More