I can’t help but feel that while the kids in Brooklyn are busy smearing face-paint on themselves and stitching together wild, flowery soundscapes, the Brits are doing something much more mature (pronounce it: ma-tour) and just so, so British. I mean the flavor of ma-tourity that accompanies the swirling of good scotch, the wearing of a smoking jackets and the kindling of fireplaces in a frigid, rainy climate.
Primary 1 wears a synth-pop smoking jacket – one that feels as though it might have been passed down from Bowie himself.
“The Blues” is a very restrained, very simple song. About a minute in, a melancholy synth descends. It is reminiscent of home-made movie scores from the 80s. From there, a sentimental duet picks up between Mr. 1 and Nina Persson.They sound very serious, like souls that have lived and loved enough that their emotions, raging perhaps stronger than ever, are no longer obvious to voyeurs.
It is far too methodical, far too melodic (there’s another “M” word I’m pointing to, and it sounds like ma-tour) to have been produced by a 21 year old. But it was. It’s really kind of eerie. While, to give my two cents, the song comes in short of masterpiece (a little longer than it needs to be, arrangement grows dull at times, questionable auto-harp presence,) Primary 1’s genuine, beyond-his-years songwriting makes him a super exciting up-and-coming. He might just be worthy of the aforementioned smoking jacket that he is currently trying on for size.
Listen to “The Blues” here on hypemachine!
