Rising band Prinze George releases their newest eclectic single, “Centuries,” on all streaming platforms. Through this release, the American Alternative Pop band formed by Kenny Grimm (Producer) and Naomi Almquist (Vocalist) showcases their euphoric breaks and groove-laden drums, layered with addictive vocals that bear emotion.
Within their lyricism, Prinze George takes a vulnerable perspective that will have any audience relating to them. The single talks about the inevitable loss of autonomy that comes with being coupled with another person for so long.
The seamless fusion between indie-pop and electronic elements creates an overall energetic and ethereal track. “Centuries is the latest single off of Prinze George’s Happy Garden EP, available for stream now.”
“Our society often romanticizes romance, but we rarely examine the presence of a loss in love, particularly the loss of self that almost always occurs when you’ve been together as long as we have.
When you love someone, you observe your reality shifting in positive and negative ways, but you accept it, because it’s impossible to leave someone who makes your life fuller and sweeter, especially when it becomes a habit, even if it makes you weaker as an individual in certain ways.” Kenny & Naomi said.
Following the release of their self-titled EP “Prinze George,” the band went on tour with Albert Hammond Jr as direct support in 2015. Bolstering their growing reputation, they dropped their debut album “Illiterate Synth Pop” in 2016 and joined Lewis Del Mar on his North American Tour.
After impressing fans at festivals like Austin City Limits, Eaux Claires, and Firefly with their nostalgic, synth-soaked sound and mesmerizing, gripping performances, the band released their last EP, “Airborne” in 2018.
Around the same time, Naomi and Kenny were given the opportunity to write songs for actor/director Til Schweiger’s film “Head Full of Honey” in Europe. They continued to expand their loyal following and break genre barriers thanks to a string of collaborations in 2019 with some of the industry’s top artists like Carnage, Diplo, G-Eazy & Wiz Khalifa
Is there a specific aspect of your art making that you love more than others?
We both thrive in the studio. Music making, songwriting and recording are our favorite parts of the creative process. Naomi doesn’t really love performing, because she’s got bad nerves; performance anxiety has been a lifelong struggle for her. Kenny enjoys it more but prefers studio sessions. Isabelle is the most comfortable onstage hands down, she was made for live performing.
With Such a diverse range of collaborations under your belt, who would you say are your all time musical icons?
Kenny and I both love The National, Future Islands, Outkast, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Tina Turner, Cindy Lauper, Bill Withers, Cat Stevens and Whitney Houston to name a few. Lauryn Hill, Nelly Furtado, Mariah Carey, Shania Twain, Joni Mitchell, Metric, The Beatles and Sam Cooke were my earliest inspirations. Our inspirations diverge when it comes to heavy metal and rock, Kenny loves ACDC and is a bit of a metal head. Isabelle loves MUSE, Beyonce and Cindy Blackman.
Ultimately, we mostly agree that a true musical icon can write, play and sing well enough to leave a timeless body of work behind them; a body of work that can stand on its own when it’s stripped down to just vocal and guitar/piano. Captivating visuals are cool, but sometimes they manipulate the listener into thinking the music is stronger than it is. Being a musical icon is about the legacy you leave behind…and it should revolve around the sound, spirit and the versatility/strength of the songwriting for us.
Walk us through your creative flow and process
It varies, but most of the time it starts with something that Kenny is playing on guitar, bass, synths, or a production loop. I react to it, steer the progression…sometimes I start with melodies and sometimes I just write poems in my notebook while he’s jamming and piece something together from that.
Once we have the basics down, we usually send the track to Isabelle so that she can respond with real drums to Kenny’s programmed beats. When we are all in the same room, which sadly doesn’t happen often enough (but will change once everybody is vaccinated and Isabelle moves to LA) Isabelle will start something on keys and Kenny will play off of her on another instrument or vice versa…it’s definitely a different vibe when it’s the three of us, because they can both play keys and program things in production very quickly.
What inspires and what are you trying to communicate with your lyrics?
I’m always inspired by what I know. Family, friendships, fear, loss, love and our shared home are recurring themes for me. I’m shameless in my lyrics, much more so than in performance. My truth is the compass for everything I write, so everything is informed by my female perspective/the way I experience the world.
Is there any other art form you get inspired by beside music?
We are from Maryland, just outside of Washington DC, land of the free museums! We have been going to museums our entire lives. My dad worked for Copyright in the Library of Congress for years, so I grew up going to Capitol Hill and going to Smithsonian’s and getting to see private libraries within the Library of Congress, because of my dad. I miss it.
Cultural institutions, movies, concerts, art galleries…they are always sources of inspiration because they shift your perspective, especially when you’re hearing from people who don’t look like you and have had different experiences than you.
Tell us about your style and aesthetics. What influences them?
I am inspired by color palettes, both by our primarily white/neutral palette and also incorporating pops of other colors. Every body of work summons different accent colors, and that has always been the source of my visual inspiration for this project from the beginning.
The real reason our visuals are so great however, is because of our band wife, Joilyn Jackson. Joi has been our creative director since the beginning. I collaborate with Joi on concepts and she just takes everything to the next level in record time.
Joi is family, we have so much fun and have been through many ups and downs together over the years. We were friends first, we are from the same place. It helps to be very close with your creative, because then art is always imitating life. Nothing is contrived.
What’s the future looking like for you?
The future’s looking bright. We have really tapped into our writing abilities through collaborations with other artists the past few years and have many exciting collabs in the pipeline now. We are also very excited about our new music.
