• News

• All

Feb 27, 2018 By Christopher Roberts Girl Ray

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.). And in November they shared a new Christmas song, ”(I Wish I Were Giving You a Gift) This Christmas,” (as well as a video for the song in December). Now they have shared another new song, “The Way We Came Back,” via a video. Watch it below, followed by the band’s upcoming tour dates.

Hankin wrote the song when she was just 16 years old, but it was finally recorded after the release of Earl Grey.

Girl Ray’s Sophie Moss had this to say about the song in the press release: “It’s cute, I guess. You kinda wanna skip to it, you know? Makes you think about arguments but it doesn’t make you hate them that much. It’s an early, early - we’re talking pre-Earl Grey here - banger that we wanted to oil up. A plump cow that needed to be milked. It was one of the first songs Poppy wrote when she was 16, which we all found pretty impressive. Sly arrangement, good vibes here.”

Rita Conry directed the video, which was shot on the Isle of Sheppey during a blizzard. Conry had this to say in a press release: “We wanted to go for a ‘60s, beachy Californian pop video. The weather was below freezing, so it was ideal conditions to be roaming the beaches of Kent. It was actually quite beautiful though, and the song is about a journey, so our adventure fit quite nicely with that.”

Girl Ray have a bit of an ‘80s indie-pop vibe in line with the iconic C86 compilation from 1986 (a modern reference point might be Cate Le Bon). After putting out a series of great singles, the band released their debut album, the cleverly titled Earl Grey, back in August via Moshi Moshi. It was our Album of the Week.

Read our Pleased to Meet You interview with Girl Ray and check out our exclusive photo shoot with the band.

Girl Ray U.S. Tour Dates:

February:

28 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court*

March:

01 - Boise, ID @ Neurolux*
02 - Portland, OR @ Analog Theater*
03 - Seattle, WA @ Neumos*
05 - San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel*
06 - San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel*
09 - Los Angeles, CA @ Teregram Ballroom*
10 - Las Vegas, NV @ Neon Reverb Festival
12-16 - Austin, TX @ SXSW 2018
19 - Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade - Purgatory Room*
20 - Durham, NC @ Motorco Music Hall*
21 - Richmond, VA @ Strange Matter*
22 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat*
23 - Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg*
24 - New York, NY @ The Bowery Ballroom*
25 - New York, NY @ Union Pool

*w/ Porches

Support Under the Radar on Patreon.