Formed in 2009, Primitive Noyes describes their music as “electroniscape pop.” According to the band, “We’re influenced mainly by long attention spans, noticing this moment, human hypocrisy, fundamental truth, unknowable proofs, and loving friends.”
Based in Golden Hill, the band’s sound is redolent of those 1960s-era anti-drug films intended to scare junior high school kids away from dope. To wit: “One senses the invocation of an alternate reality, ephemeral imaginings animating the void,” a concertgoer wrote on a Reader blog after witnessing a show in June 2010.
Their music envelopes a listener in rich and meditative instrumental excursions that include the bowing of bass guitars, digital sampling, looping, and the buzz of controlled feedback. But it’s a warm buzz. So much of pop electronica can sound frigid and nervous. A listen to Primitive Noyes may at times be an act of waiting for something to happen, but at least it’s a pleasant wait.
Their debut album Ideation can be downloaded free from their website, which singer/guitarist Jordan Hammond says may be a better way to sample the band than attending one of their concerts. “To get the best work out of yourself, it seems like you have to be singularly focused. But even when you do your best work, the fact is you are only background music in a club for people to drink their Newcastles to...We just promise ourselves that we’ll give it all we got every time we play, I guess. Try to not look back, try to not think.”
The band includes Jordan Hammond, Shannon St. John (1019 AKA the Numberman), Glendon Romett, and Jamal Smith. Hammond, who has also played with Inkblot Propaganda, relocated to Austin Texas for a time, but returned to San Diego in summer 2012 to begin recording a new band album.