FEATURE:
Spotlight
Prima Queen
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HAVING just played…
five sets at Glastonbury, the incredible Prima Queen are gaining new momentum and acclaim off of the back of their E.P., Not the Baby. I will come to a review for that E.P. at the end. In a sea of wonderful new music, there is something especially memorable and spectacular about Prima Queen. Fronted by the songwriting duo of Louise Macphail (Bristol) and Kristin McFadden (Chicago) - when playing live, Heledd Owen and Kitty Drummond are in the fold -, they combine vulnerable and nostalgic colours with light-hearted and immersive lyrical imagination. Although they have been compared with artists such as Julia Jacklin, Nilüfer Yanya, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus, they very much add their stamp on the Indie Rock genre. Cast back to In November 2021: this is when Prima Queen signed to Nice Swan Records and released the awesome single, Chew My Cheeks. They are one of the most interesting and promising acts in the world. When we have so much terrific music coming through, Prima Queen are very much at the forefront. I want to bring together a few different interviews. Starting out with a slightly older one from Fred Perry:
“What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to?
Phoebe Bridgers at the Great Escape - we’re really big fans of her songwriting and were really excited to see her perform but we got to the show too late and they weren’t letting anyone in. We had to wait in a massive queue outside and spent ages trying to sneak through the fence to get in through the back door. By the time we finally got inside she was playing her last song. At that point, we felt like we worked so hard to get inside (i.e. the fence/security guards/people in the queue) it made the whole thing even more magical.
If you could be on the line up with any two artists in history?
Fleetwood Mac and Abba.
Which subcultures have influenced you?
We’re based in South East London and are a part of a really inclusive and exciting art/music community there. We’re also part of a collective called People’s Front Room which travels around to different UK festivals. Both of these communities have inspired us to collaborate with different musicians and experiment with instrumentation (sax, trumpet, cello, synths, etc). Depending on the gig we mix up the musicians playing on our set which is really exciting for us because we can have different versions of the songs. This is something we know is more common in jazz communities but not as popular in indie rock circles.
If you could spend an hour with anyone from history?
We’d love to have a guitar lesson from Emily Remler, an amazing female jazz/bossa nova guitarist from the '80s.
Of all the venues you’ve been to or played, which is your favourite?
We love The Windmill, Brixton - the sound, Tim Perry and the dog who lives on the roof.
Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?
Sister Rosetta Tharpe - her singing and guitar playing influenced Chuck Berry and Elvis but not everyone seems to know that.
The first track you played on repeat?
'Where Did Our Love Go' by Diana Ross & The Supremes. Not the first track I played on repeat but I got a record player last year and my mum’s Diana Ross LP was literally the only vinyl I had for 6 months so have been listening to that pretty much on repeat since Christmas.
A song that defines the teenage you?
K:
'Wide Open Spaces' by the Dixie Chicks.
One record you would keep forever?
'Don’t Let The Kids Win' by Julia Jacklin.
A song lyric that has inspired you?
“In five years I hope the songs feel like covers,
dedicated to new lovers.”
From 'Night Shift' by Lucy Dacus.
The song that would get you straight on the dance floor?
'Thinking Of You' by Sister Sledge”.
When performing earlier in the year, Soundofbrit spoke with Prima Queen. They asked about the reference and inclusion of mental health in their lyrics. Obviously, they enquired as to whether they had a good time performing live in France:
“You talk a lot about mental health and Alzheimer’s disease in your songs. Can you explain why and how you chose to talk about it ?
Christine : It felt like it was something that had to be talked about. Butter Knife is about that. This is something I was going through.. And the songs were inspired by just being in a bathroom, hiding from people, cause you’re like too sad to talk to anyone. And I thought it would be an interesting way to start a song, someone alone in a bathroom, trying to hide from your own friends, which is quite sad.
Louise : In general, we write songs about things that are happening to us and, yeah, my auntie died from Alzheimer’s. But I guess you just write about what you know and what you’re going through at a certain time.
C : Sometimes you have to write about it because you just don’t know what to do with the feelings.
L: The best thing is when you write a song and you feel like that delt with some of the feeling.
C : Yeah, you can process it in it. A better way maybe when you have to create something that’s coherent instead of just journaling… (laugh)
L : We have to sit down and really make something, a finished product from a feeling, and I think that helps process.
C : And then getting to sing it, that feels so satisfying when you finally like kind of figured out your feeling and then put it in a song and then each time you get to play it, it’s really cathartic.
Do you think mental health is talked about more at the moment ?
L : yeah it’s definitely talked about more but it’s something that is always good to talk about I think. I think in our songwriting… we make sure that we’re being really honest and vulnerable, and I think that it’s what’s important to us. So I think that yeah, talking about everything is good.
What did you think about your first gig in France ?
The audience was so nice ! It was a crazy feeling like “wow we’re in a different country now and there’s people here!”. We only ever played in the UK and everyone was so nice, it was a really good experience. We’d love to come back ! Next year, sometime, we’ll release an EP.
Can you tell us more about your influences ?
We love Jenny Lewis, Big Thief, Taylor Swift… It’s always changing ! We’re quite different. Sharon Von Etten also, trying to get those big guitar sounds ! We’re working with a producer, Ali Chant, and he’s recorded a lot of bands that we like : Aldous Harding, Katy J. Pearson, Sorry, Soccer Mommy… So we’ve been listening to a lot of his production stuff!”.
PHOTO CREDIT: Bonnie Ophelia
Whynow interviewed Prima Queen this year. With that incredible meeting and coming-together or kindred spirits, it is clear that the duo are part of a movement of leading women. Female artists dominating and defining the best music. After a busy and successful 2022, this year has been another huge one for Prima Queen:
“This has been a hallmark of the pair’s songwriting and musical output as Prima Queen, their elegant indie-rock outfit formed after Kristin – originally from Chicago – made her way over to a course in London where she met Louise, originally from Bristol.
As though struck by a music-loving cupid – and hitting it off after Louise’s insistence that Kristin would join her on her musical venture, latching onto her like a kid choosing their friend on the first day of school – the pair have been creative soulmates ever since, penning dreamy tunes that have a deft storytelling prowess. It’s not without irony that among the many rich tunes they’ve released to date is ‘Butter Knife’ – an apt metaphor for how their songs slice into your soul with warmth.
And having toured with fellow female-fronted outfits The Big Moon and it-band Wet Leg last year, Prima Queen are riding a crest of ever-flourishing guitar music that’s paired with a feminine touch and lullaby-like harmonies.
The pair are in such red-hot form in fact, having also recently played Austin’s SXSW Festival, that they were recently whittled-down from thousands of entries to be selected for Glastonbury’s Emerging Talent Competition.
And with a new EP, Not The Baby, out now, we speak to Louise and Kristin, about how Prima Queen formed as a band, their mammoth touring efforts and their love of service stations – especially new ones.
You’re from Chicago, Kristin, as you mentioned; and you’re from Bristol, Louise. So how on earth did you both meet and form Prima Queen?
K: I was actually at Uni in America. I wanted to study abroad and come to London. I took a semester off and enrolled on a course here, and that’s where I met Louise.
L: I was on this course, and I’d been really wanting to be in a band. We were both doing our own singer-songwriter thing, both played guitar and sang. But I wanted to start a band and just couldn’t really find anyone to start one with – or tried and failed. Then I was told Kristen was coming, and I decided she was going to be in my band.
You knew the moment you met her?
L: Yeah, I called my mum outside after I met [Louise], and said, “I’ve met her and I’m going to ask her [to be in my band] and it’s going to be good.” My mum said, “Be chill” and reminded me how I always used to ask people to be my friend in the playground.
K: [Louise] was smiling at me when I walked in, and instantly just said, “Do you want to be in my band?”
Last year was pretty immense for you: touring with Wet Leg and The Big Moon. What did you take from those experiences as a band?
L: It’s amazing touring with lots of different bands and getting an insight into how they work.
K: Just building a really nice fan base as well has been great, because people will come back to our gigs; at our headline show at the end of the year, people were saying they saw us play elsewhere. It’s nice to have that organic following that have seen you and are true music fans because they’re going to see these other bands we’ve been on tour with. So we’re just able to share those fans–
L: Steal them–
K: And meet all these really lovely people that come back to shows every time.
We mentioned your tour support with Wet Leg, and The Big Moon – both impressive, female-led guitar groups. Do you feel like you’re part of a female-led guitar moment in music? Or do you think that’s a media-imposed oversimplification?
L: I think when we were starting, we had this idea of what music we wanted to make, but there wasn’t actually loads of it around; we were trying to describe this rock-guitar driven music with feminine harmonies, and there wasn’t much of it – and now there is.
K: Yeah, I definitely think it is a movement. And it’s my favorite music. Women are leading the way. It’s awesome.
And what else is next for you following the release of this EP?
K: We’re working on an album.
L: We’ve got a whiteboard over there [pointing] that we’ve just got, ready to write on. We’ve got lots of songs that we’re trying to figure out what will be on the album”.
The final interview I am bringing in is from The Line of Best Fit. It is clear that there was an instant spark between Kristen McFadden and Louise Macphail. You can hear and feel this sense of connection, friendship and trust within their debut E.P., Not the Baby. Two songwriters very much in harmony – both vocally, lyrically and visually:
“It’s not an isolating dynamic, however. Prima Queen comes from a long line of women finding solace in each other and their stories. Women are connected by each other’s experiences and, for McFadden and Macphail – as with so many others – it all comes down to Taylor Swift, the ultimate unifier.
Despite growing up with an ocean between them, the pair shared the same feelings and ideas through music. “We felt the same thing as teenagers [because of songs like] 'Teardrops on My Guitar' and 'Love Story',” Macphail muses. Continuing, McFadden agrees: “I’d never heard a young woman talk about playing the guitar before and someone so cool saying boys don’t love me.”
In the formative days of their relationship, Swift made her presence known. “Kristen was in my house one time, really early into our friendship, and my iPod was on shuffle. A very risky situation,” Macphail laughs. “This deep cut of a Taylor Swift song came on and we both immediately got on the table and started dancing.” Smiling, McFadden adds, “it was like ‘okay I feel safe now, this is a safe space.”
As Prima Queen, the practice of rallying around women feels more powerful. In the lyricism their music is built, there’s nods at having each other's backs, vocally and literally, and reinforcing each other’s stories.
In “Back Row”, McFadden leads a tale about complicated love, lamenting “I remember the letter / You left beneath my door / I tried to write you back / I spent two days crying on my bedroom floor.” With Macphail behind her, it’s an experience shared. Neither are lonely in moments of grief, something fortified by the upbeat and euphoric chorus of accepting love and loss as a part of life.
It’s a set of feelings perhaps impossible to conquer alone. “We know all of each other’s stories inside and out. Whoever is singing lead is telling theirs and the other is there supporting because they get it. They all feel like both of our stories now,” says Macphail. “We’re telling each other’s stories and we’re each other’s main support,” McFadden adds, “we know everything about the other person’s life and what they’re feeling and the songs reflect that; the songs are reflections of what we’ve told each other.”
With “Dylan”, a jazzy, ruling and introspective glimpse into the breakdown of a relationship, sonically McFadden stands behind Macphail as she confronts a partner – it’s now two against one.
“How we’ve helped each other process feelings is the accumulation of the song,” McFadden assures, and the result is sprawling. It’s hard not to become mobilised by the autobiographical, narrative tales Prima Queen anchor their songs around.
Visceral and all-encompassing, they belong to the listener just as much as them. Not Your Baby is a comforting call of empowerment amongst love and life’s messiest moments, and it also serves as a reminder that no one has to go at it alone”.
I am going to wrap things up with a review of the amazing Not the Baby E.P. It is definitely one of the best E.P.s of the year. It will be interesting to predict when Prima Queen will put out their debut album. There is a lot of love and support behind them. NME were among those who have a lot of positives to say about Not the Baby:
“Transatlantic duo Prima Queen may have met by chance, but their connection was surely destined to be. Their story begins with the Chicago-born Kristin McFadden moving to London for a semester abroad to study songwriting. And who happened to be on that course? Her future bandmate and bestfriend Louise Macphail, of course, who’d already decided they’d make music together after seeing a video of McFadden performing online.
A bond formed instantly. Not even McFadden returning to the US for a year could break it, and now six years later, they’re as close as ever. This resilience to change and getting through things together bleeds into the foundations of Prima Queen’s debut EP, ‘Not The Baby’. They complete each other’s melodies, and as both McFadden and Macphail delve into their respective personal dealings lyrically, the other is never too far away, always providing a holding hand.
This level of support can be heard in the duo’s storytelling. Positioning themselves as heartbreakers – “We got tangled up and turned around / I got your hopes up then I went back and let you down” – opener ‘Back Row’ is an instant alt-rock triumph. The track’s crescendoing horns, meanwhile, feel reminiscent of Katy J Pearson’s 2022 album ‘Sound Of The Morning’.
The sweetness of the lush, acoustic number ‘Crows’ feels disparate to the track’s darker themes, complete with a namecheck to Ted Hughes’ seminal 1970 poetry collection of the same name. The band detail his “grief for Sylvia Plath” while exploring creation and life in a mindset of despair, which stretches to observing a crow “bleeding in the grass”. More hopeful than Hughes and his late counterpart, Prima Queen hold each other up with the realisation that, sometimes, those you love are struggling and you can’t fix it, however hard you try.
‘Not The Baby’, while only pushing 13 minutes, attests to the strength of friendship. Prima Queen are a duo so in sync, their support of one another results in a remarkable songwriting prowess, which will continue to evolve as the band reaches a wider audience. They recently placed as runners-up in this year’s Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition, winning them a set at Worthy Farm in June – their biggest show to date. But Prima Queen will continue to move forward with a belief that their irrepressible musical chemistry can get them through anything”.
If you do not currently have Prima Queen in your life, go and rectify that now! Follow them on social media and listen to the marvellous Not the Baby. After their warmly received and successful Glastonbury gigs, many eyes are going to be firmly on this incredible pair. It is evident that this spectacular and hugely close-knit duo have a…
GOLDEN future ahead.
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