Photos and review by NOTES FROM VIVACE
LOS ANGELES – Taylor Swift did not show up to ruin the Primer EP release party.
Primer’s Alyssa Midcalf explained to the El Cid audience, “My niece was really worried about my show tonight. She thought Taylor Swift was going to come and ruin the show and steal it.” In the audience, a verification of this fact was made by the parent of the child. Primer was in peak form to celebrate the June release of her Round and Round EP, playing with an enthusiastic vibrance and a backing band that rocked alongside the synth beats.
Midcalf opened up the night with “Wasted Away,” a song that has the ephemeral sounds of wind chimes swaying through a breezy summer day. The title single of the EP “Round and Round,” deals with her fears. “You can make some friends to pass the time. You can take some pills to ease your mind . . . You can lift some weights and call your mom. You can visit a place that you’ve never gone . . . But the feelings coming back again.” In an Instagram post, she mentions that the song’s cover pic was taken in her bathroom and the video was shot in her living room.
A Primer set is always fun to watch as you’ll get to see Midcalf carefully examine her synth as her right hand touches the various keys and knobs and other times her left hand hovers just above.
At other times, she’ll give the air a martial arts chop or do a little flexing which makes the video and lyrics of “Round and Round” all the more relevant. There are also times where she’ll march in place, leading her fans on the path to the exploration of life. As the Pink Floyd-esque lyrics of “Impossible Thoughts” go, “Feels like I’m being brainwashed. It’s becoming an impossible thought. A big machine and I’m a cog. Never stop, it’s never enough.”
El Cid was the place to be pre-Indepence Day. Not only did Primer have a release party, but Active Decay and So Below were there in support. That made for an amazing lineup. Interestingly, all the bands were 3-member bands.
Opening up the night was Active Decay whose music combines all the cool sounds of UK bands like Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, and New Order spun into Sunset Strip vibes. The crowd packed the front of the stage to enjoy the set.
So Below was the perfect segway to Primer with their “goth-pop” duo synths. The band name is the moniker of New Zealand musician Madeline North. The El Cid lights were turned off and replaced with flashing floor lights that were brought by the band.
The lights gave emphasis to the goth sounds, but there was more of a connection to this genre. The band’s biggest Spotify song is “Toll.” How did it become North’s number one hit? It was put on a playlist for the book “Haunting Adeline” by H. D. Carlton.
What’s the book about as explained by North? “The book is about a guy who stalks a woman and breaks into her house at night and watches her sleep. And eventually she’s into it and it helps that he’s hot and she’s hot. Fifty Shades-esque.”
Primer Setlist: Waste Away, Round and Round, Paradise, Hypercube, Things Fall Apart, Feel the Way I Do, The Winner, Impossible Thoughts
Active Decay Setlist: Next To Me, Cold as Ice, Lies, Twisted Violets, Midnight Man, Worlds Apart, Empty Hands, Perfect World
