From the moment the calendars rolled over to 2018, the vast score of musicians and producers inhabiting our musical sphere have been firing off one stellar release after another. Seemingly standing atop the shoulders of giants, Primate is a creator of the highest accord, and he utilized his precious time with a remarkable patience to craft the aural opus Out Of Time. While there is no shame in adapting to and riding the creative waves that influence genre development within electronic music, there is an incalculable worth in blazing a trail beyond the present scope of one’s assumed musical boundaries. In practical terms, that means taking exceptionally brilliant compositional risks, and Primate is no stranger to experimental arrangements.

In the world of sound design, Primate is refreshingly biological in comparison to his contemporaries, and eschews adopting typical synthesis in favor of deliciously home-brewed tones and textures. Out Of Time is an extremely matured display of the Primate vision, and it absolutely smashes all expectations. So much of the sonic palette that is elemental to the Primate mode rests around the glide of his synthesis; his choice of notes stretch and fold into one another with a melodramatic legato that carries the emotional weight and output of his tracks. “Natural Brilliance” is an excellent example of this motif, with the lead tone of the track engaging the staccato response of Ill Chill’s lyricism through elongated stretches and subtle twists. Propping up this high-frequency dance is a vibrant blend of foley work rustling between the skip and bounce of his fluid drum work, which has become a staple feature of every Primate production. “Mislead” is the subtle sleeper of EP, wherein it provides in utter smoothness what it lacks in intensity. The rhythm is a hypnotic 4/4 hip-hop L-ride that flows in parallel to the most sultry chords found anywhere on this EP, carefully popping in and out of the mix like sunshine through a forest canopy. Resting underneath all of the fan-fair is a boisterous bass line that can only be served justice through a concert-grade subwoofer, creating a veritable cushion for the softer elements. The title track, “Out Of Time”, rides along a choice downtempo bounce, its bass lines pulsating with that reverberant buzz so favored by Primate. The slow serenade ramps up over the course of the track, culminating in a mad dash of drum and bass rhythms with an impact akin to rolling thunder. Each song on the EP is given not only room to breathe, but room to evolve over time in the listeners ear. The first few play-throughs will yield the immediate magic of Primate productions, but it is the constant return to these tracks that will turn over their sonic layers and secrets beneath the surface.

Genres are a fickle thing, and for musicians who wish to adopt and adapt styles within the ever rapidly-changing landscape of electronic music, genres can be limiting and musically castrating. Primate has the keen and prized ability to look at his compositions from the bird's eye view, outside the bounds of genre. He sees every space between the details, and then compliments that space with yet another responding frequency. The word “layering” does not do his process justice, as his music is not stacked like logs or bricks. It is a crisscrossed, interwoven, biosynthetic matrix of sound and intent. As always, remain vigilantly plugged into the catalog of Primate, and you'll be thoroughly rewarded in kind, every time.

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