What’s on ACSOM’s Stereo? Australian quartet PRIMO! with new single ‘Machine’

PRIMO! have announced the release of their second full-length album, Sogni, on April 17 via Upset The Rhythm. Sogni is the follow up to 2018’s Amici. Prior to the release of their forthcoming LP, the band have released new single Machine:

Machine is a propulsive jangle of a track dealing with notions of work-hierarchy struggle and the video sees the Melbourne quartet putting in some serious elbow grease down the auto-shop to convey this message.

Suzanne Walker from Primo! explains further that “it’s the feeling of being like a machine inside the machine but as well the fact that sometimes great ideas, thoughts and observations come to you during the working day, in unexpected ways. Rhythmically, the pacing is like that of a machine, speeding up and slowing down, at times frantically chugging, spattering vivid bursts of greasy colour before halting to a stop and slipping the key from the ignition.”

Drawing from a collective musical lexicon as seen in Amici, Sogni (which translates from the Italian for ‘Dreams’) reflects on themes of decision-making, change, time, heartbreak and the practicalities of work and daily life. Primo!’s music is a study of duality, weaving through these themes with an idiosyncratic delivery that is punctuated by post-punk sensibilities, upbeat jangle and unexpected electronic flourishes.

Sogni sees the introduction of Amy Hill on bass, adding to the original trio of Suzanne Walker (drums), Violetta Del Conte-Race and Xanthe Waite (guitars). There’s a freshness here, a breaking of new territory that’s a testament to the group’s collaborative work ethic and experience in their associated bands.

Spanning just under 30 minutes, Sogni’s twelve songs were conceived collectively in the rehearsal room and perfected in a live setting, before being recorded to an 8-track with Al Montfort across a number of home studios in Melbourne.

The resulting LP comes with a languid and fluid pace. Opener Things To Do sets the tone for Sogni, a record that reflects Primo!’s day-to-day life, with sharp lyrics and a chiming encouragement. Perfect Paper propels the album into cruise, with splintering guitars, Machine highlights the work-hierarchy struggle (“You told me just what I should do / but the problem is you’re only human / and I just can’t listen to you / machine, machine, machine”). Best & Fairest questions the idea of an ideal life, while Love Days reflects on past relationships and Diamond Days deals in accidentally being swept up in love. Before long, the LP is wrapped up with a hazy and intimate final track, Reverie.

Primo! are making guitar music that explores the boundaries of everyday life with calm levity, tilted grace and grit.

PRIMO! – SOGNI

Tracklisting:

1. Things To Do
2. Perfect Paper
3. Machine
4. Best and Fairest
5. Comedy Show
6. Love Days
7. 1000 Words
8. Rolling Stone
9. Diamond Day
10. The Present
11. Up In The Air
12. Reverie