Portraits Of Tracy – Q: From Where Do Our Primal Instincts Originate A: MTV!
Today, Portraits of Tracy — the elusive producer, singer, and multi-instrumentalist who earned a cult following after setting online circles alight from her teenage bedroom in Baton Rouge, LA — shares her new EP Q: From Where Do Our Primal Instincts Originate A: MTV!.
The EP arrives with focus track “Royal Courts (Great Misfortune),” a shape-shifter which spans classic soul and psych blues projected from another time-space reality.
“‘Royal Courts (Great Misfortune)’ is where my love for all things classic soul, meets my love for all things folk,” Tracy says of the track. “Pulling from Sly & The Family Stone, Rose Banks, Little Boy Blues, Elly Stone & even Patience & Prudence to bring you 3 minutes & 55 seconds of pure. classic. devil music.”
Disruptive, experimental, and ultra-vivid, Tracy’s sound draws on indelible memories: a childhood spent locked into DC hardcore, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater and when MTV reigned supreme.
Sharing on her vision for the EP, Tracy says: “Q: From Where Do Our Primal Instincts Originate? A: MTV! is a loud and playful glimpse into who I am as a person and a musician. Drawing from acts like Stereolab & The Beach Boys…to Dead Kennedys & Dag Nasty…you know it’s bound to be a fun time.”
Recent single “This Song May Or May Not Be About An Alt-Right Influencer” is a thrashing DC hardcore love letter and song of defiance which takes down a neo-nazi who had been enjoying her art while standing in opposition to her people and culture.
It followed the era-announcing “Caught In A Jam,” a retrofuturistic anthem written for a space age lounge, with punchy, Gary Numan-style synths and a belting power chorus that feels like Carole King astral projected into a Starfleet ship. It came with a suitably kitsch video as Tracy is in a 60s space suit, green-screened into a cardboard metropolis where she must fight an “alien” invasion.
Q: From Where Do Our Primal Instincts Originate A: MTV! Is a playful successor to 2023’s Drive Home. An extraordinary statement of autonomy and sonic freedom, the 18-track concept record is an analogy for Tracy’s own journey in accepting herself as transgender and finding her voice as a Black, queer teen raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Through the lens of Junie, the album’s central character, Tracy frantically whips between elements of classic rock, hip-hop, R&B, soul, and psychedelic indie rock to tell a story of family, belonging and the importance of staying true to your gut — all guided by her prodigious musical talent.
This EP marks a confident new stage in her evolution, one where she reintroduces herself in glorious technicolor. Get ready to hit play on a whole new level from Portraits of Tracy.
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