In writing and recording a record, some artists will reveal themselves—their experiences, their emotions, their vulnerability—more than others. In the uppermost echelons of this bear-all approach to music would be Rose Blanshei, and her band Prima, who has been playing under the name for years, and whose debut album Performance, is out June 1 on Time Castle Records. The first single, “Master,” is a perfect introduction, a mission statement, for the record, and for them as a whole. Fuzzy guitar highs that sounds like a surreal, maniacal fun-house synth undulates over an irresistible dance-pop beat. It’s immediately accessible, immediately exciting, immediately fun. And then it’s real. The guitar deteriorates before your ears, into this whirlwind of alternated, frantic strumming, raging around your mind like every thought you’ve ever had, all at once. And then Blanshei’s voice stops you dead in your tracks. It’s a bulwark, a guiding light in the midst of this black blizzard of woes and worries and stresses and anxieties, as she belts out, “I’m master of my fate, I’m master of this game…Or I’m faking it.” And you know sometimes faking it is all you need.
Prima’s release show is June 1 at Union Pool w/ Russian Baths and Katie Von Schleicher.
