Primary EP by Kate Stein & Lord Fascinator

Clubland is filled with duos, sometimes they grew up sharing bunk beds, sometimes they met on a dancefloor, or sometimes - as with Lord Fascinator & Kate Stein - they met on a tropical island after one had commissioned the other to create several giant monsters for a music video. Fast forward through ten years of costumes, chemicals, religious art projects, and "Mad Max yoga retreats," they have finally cemented their relationship in the studio with their Primary EP, four tracks of psychedelic synth-pop, cowboy disco, and cosmically inclined iridescent electronica.

Living in LA in 2022, where they found themselves sharing a crumbling castle turret, the EP started to take shape when Kate - the aforementioned monster maker and now up-and-coming DJ and producer - shared her latest demos with Lord Fascinator. Aided and abetted by both the musical ghosts of Laurel Canyon and a regular supply of caffeine, the pair began to craft these demos into an EP that segues from sublime synth-pop odes to chemical love and intoxicating attraction through to country disco without missing a beat.

The EP kicks off with "Chemistry," a song whose spacey synth arpeggios wrap themselves around trippy house beats and a bass line that pulses like the heartbeat of a planet. It's a third eye-opener of a track, one that kicks down the doors of perception only to find a secret nightclub filled with neon smiles hidden behind and perfectly sets the playful mood for everything that follows. As it happens, what follows is the cosmically inclined synth-pop and trance-inducing disco of "Asteroid." A paean to "falling in love on drugs," "Asteroid" somehow finds the hitherto unknown sweet spot between Spiritualized and Lipps Inc. and, thanks in no small part to Lord Fascinator's celebratory chorus, blazes like its namesake across the night sky.

So far, so cosmic. What you may not have been expecting then is country-touched club banger "Horse House," a track that combines a galloping hypnotic house beat and pulsating synths with all manner of Morricone'esque whistles, lonesome guitar twangs, equine snorts, of course, the repeated chant that "there's a horse in this house." The track may have started life as a joke, but its effect on dancefloors has been anything but, and "Horse House" joins the select ranks of other fine western-themed classics that have curiously littered the history of club music.

Finally, to close out the EP, we have "Le Petit Martien," which maintains Western vibes while cantering at 110 bpm despite its extraterrestrial title and occasional French lyrics. It's a bit like the impossible love child of, say, Bad Seeds' Red Right Hand, Serge Gainsbourg's Bonnie and Clyde, and one of Todd Terje's more playful moments - in other words, the perfect way for this free-spirited EP to ride off into the sunset.

Kate Stein & Lord Fascinator - Primary EP
Release Date 25th April 2025
Label Eskimo Recordings

Tracklist
1. Kate Stein & Lord Fascinator - Chemistry
2. Kate Stein & Lord Fascinator - Asteroid
3. Kate Stein & Lord Fascinator - Horse House
4. Kate Stein & Lord Fascinator - Le Petit Martien
5. Kate Stein & Lord Fascinator - Horse House (Extended Mix)
6. Kate Stein & Lord Fascinator - Asteroid (Extended Mix)