ALBUM REVIEW: All The Girls In The Room Say ‘Sorry’ – Pride Month Barbie

Inspired by that loud and proud synth-pop that took over the 1980s and 90s, PRIDE MONTH BARBIE are a duo that describe themselves as, “Libras, sluts, drama queens, and judgemental bitches”. Above all else, they hold this high-glam ultra-camp style close to their hearts and greatly present within their music. After a long-term friendship and two years of working together on this flashy fantastic sound, it’s time for these two to make their official full-length debut with All The Girls In The Room Say ‘Sorry’.

The act, consisting of Tyler Holmes and Josephine Shetty, work to bring happy sounds tinged with dismal details and tragic tangents. This is evident from the record’s opening track Obsession. A track that would be right at home in the underground scenes of decades past, its synthesised sound matching perfectly with Shetty’s auto-tuned vocals, it’s a more low-key effort but still one that hits the ear right. As a beginner of the album, it gives an accurate feel for what it means to listen to PRIDE MONTH BARBIE: something futuristic while transporting the listener back to the past, something that feels familiar yet fresh and new.

Effulgent, the album’s lead single, is an example of one of the band’s more upbeat and rave-inspired tracks. This may be where the majority of people get their first taste of PRIDE MONTH BARBIE and this is the first impression the duo will be indirectly giving the public. As a song with a fast-paced percussion beat, a range of sounds coming together in the controlled chaos of a synth track, and the midway introductions of Shetty’s falsetto vocals being given the same treatment, there will be a specific audience that will press play and never pause it for as long as they live, love and party. It brings on the imagery of strobe lights and neon beams filling a dark venue, people dancing and bouncing and air-punching to the rhythm. The thoughts of being young and aware of the world and wanting that one moment of joy and freedom to forget the grey truths out there.

While the band aim to be more ironic than literal in how they handle their sound and their meanings together, the guarantee of a fun and carefree track can still be promised. It’s up to the listeners to dig deeper and learn more about what the sound is prettying, what the lyrics are explaining, and how this relates to society and the world beyond. PRIDE MONTH BARBIE hold more power in their catalogue than they will ever realise, and this will only become more apparent as time goes on. Beyond more dance-pop electronic compositions, including an unexpected disco-distortion cover of THE CRANBERRIES’ hit single Dreams, comes the longest track and probably what could be labelled the climax of this story: Fun. Almost nine minutes in total length, the song comes across more as an audible novel than a run-of-the-mill party anthem.

Never keeping the same beat for too long, and changing up the surrounding sounds of claps, taps, warps and ringing, it’s the track that fully spells out what PRIDE MONTH BARBIE are all about and what they want to bring to the industry. As mentioned with Effulgent, there is this manufactured mess on the record in certain songs and this is where it reaches its apex. This ‘controlled chaos’, purposeful combinations, fusing elements and samples to make a whole new piece of art altogether, it’s a clever creation. It shows the unique level of genius in Shetty and Holmes’ minds, one that was only unlocked once they both came together and brought their individual touches to the work they were both in the middle of. If someone yearns to know what ‘the drama’ of All The Girls In The Room Say ‘Sorry’ is, Fun is where they must be directed.

Ending on the two-minute conclusion of Scrapes, it feels like what was created from what was left on the editing room floor. Perhaps due to its short life on the record, or due to its last-place placement, Scrapes is a track that could have been trimmed for the sake of making the album feel more professionally complete and ready to serve to the everyday humans on the planet. That last remnant of what comes across as unfinished, unsteady, unsure – and when combined, its inclusion ends up being unnecessary. However, there is no use letting two minutes taint what is a fulfilling and freeing experience of a record.

All The Girls In The Room Say ‘Sorry’ is an interesting spin on music of years – decades – where synth and dance was at its all-time highest and the fans were living, breathing, eating and drinking it as the sun rose and as the moon took its place. Appropriately bringing the record out during pride month also solidifies what was suspected of it already: this album is, or at least will aim to become, a part of gay culture. No one’s ever too old to play with dolls. Get fun with PRIDE MONTH BARBIE.

Rating: 7/10

All The Girls In The Room Say ‘Sorry’ is out now via Get Better Records.

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