Primrose

“What you want to believe”

1. stranger come around

2. so alive

3. the best in you

4. pretty girl

5. insane

6. ambitious girl

7. rude

8. take on me

9. sad song

10. say’s enough

On first listen, it sounds American, on second listen, it sounds like nothing in particular, on third, it starts to grow and by the fourth, there are tracks on repeat. (Interestingly, the main, indeed only, image in the sleeve notes is from the U.S.A. moon landing.) This is the new album from Denmark-based, self-proclaimed Irish band, Primrose, “What you want to believe”. Having said that, however, there are only a few tracks that I find worth repeating. This would make a superb four-track EP, using just tracks #1,3,8 & 10. Stranger Come Around is an epic opener, with almost-OTT strings & vocals swirling, The Best In You & Take On Me are songs for a summer road-trip, with Say’s Enough a sparsely-arranged soundtrack closer. Frankly, I grew to immediately love this collection but almost as quickly found myself irked by most of it. The definitions of a primrose path (included inside the sleeve notes) using terms like ‘irresponsible hedonism’ and ‘tempting but hazardous’ didn’t help. (It put me in mind of someone who tells everyone that he’s ‘like, Crazy, man!’ in the hope that he will be thought more interesting than he actually is.) On a more serious note, lyrically, the work could be stronger and a number of the songs morphed into background noise within a few bars. Frontman Adrian Sullivan’s voice is wonderfully distinctive though and it adds a certain something to even the more wandering tracks (e.g. Pretty Girl). It is also no surprise that one of the more interesting tracks (#3) had input from Brother Bob, who has worked wth Madonna, Britney Spears and the Pet Shop Boys. However, at the end of all this, I am put in mind of the old saying “A good start is half the work” so I’m looking forward to their next offering.

One question though: what the heck does “It say’s enough for me” supposed to mean? Why the apostrophe?

Primrose:

Adrian Sullivan

Ulrck Aagaard

Kasper Olsen

Kasper Foss