You could spin a wheel densely packed with pie-shaped memes that relate to this post-millennial phenomenon of padding out your life with little pleasures that take your mind off certain bleak existential truths, but I think I’m gonna go with the Flex Tape one here. The new single from Alyssa Midcalf’s Primer project addresses the flimsy strips of adhesive we tend to slap over the gushing hydrant of emptiness at our cores—how “little treat” culture happens to have coincided with unthinkable threats to our climate and some of the most unforgivable acts of governmental negligence endured in modern existence, for example, which pile on the sense of defeat that tends to keep us from achieving our goals.
“‘Round and Round’ is about the mundanity of life and the internal struggles between cardinal pleasure and true fulfillment,” Midcalf confirms. “I wanted to write about the cyclical nature of seeking stimulus, distraction, and pleasure just to end up with the same feeling the same way you did before you indulged.”
Reflecting that sense of cyclicality, the slow-lurching yet stadium-sized new-wavey instrumental—backing a Ginuwine-“Pony”-esque riff—feels like the perfect accompaniment to Midcalf’s pop-slacker vocals. Check out the song’s official video metaphorically bringing those cardinal pleasures to life below, or stream the track here. You can also catch Primer on tour at the dates listed here.
