Geidi Primes

• Album
• Critical Reception
• Physical Release

Album

Critical Reception

Physical Release

Geidi Primes
Album artwork
General Information
Title	Geidi Primes
Recorded	2009 • Montreal, Canada
Released	10 Jan 2010
Genre	Ethereal Wave • Indietronica • Dream Pop • Synth Pop • Ambient Pop • Art Pop
Length	31:12 • 11 Tracks
Format	CD • LP • digital download • cassette
Credits
Artist	Grimes
Writer(s)	Grimes
Producer(s)	Grimes
Label	Arbutus Records • No Pain in Pop Records
Album Chronology
(2010)
(2010)
Album artwork
General Information
Title	Geidi Primes (Nightcore Edition)
Recorded	2009 • c. 2024
Released	01 Mar 2024
Genre	Nightcore
Length	23:09 • 10 Tracks
Format	Digital Download • Streaming
Credits
Artist	Grimes
Writer(s)	Grimes
Producer(s)	Grimes
Label	Nazgul
Album Chronology
(2020)
(2024)
(TBA)

Geidi Primes is the debut studio album by Grimes, released on January 10, 2010, by Arbutus Records.

In 2011, the album was released in the United Kingdom by No Pain in Pop Records on CD and LP, containing a slightly different cover art.

On March 1, 2024, coinciding with the release of Dune: Part Two, Grimes released a nightcore version of the album, but the track Shadout Mapes was not included, for unknown reasons. By July of the same year, Geidi Primes (Nightcore Edition) was removed from official streaming platforms.

Background

Inspiration

The album is a concept album based on the science fiction novel Dune, and Grimes wanted the songs on it to represent the sound of that universe.

The first track, Caladan, refers to a fictional planet of the same name. The next, Sardaukar Levenbrech, refers to the military rank of "Levenbrech" — roughly in between a sergeant and a lieutenant — in the fictional army of the "Sardaukar". A "Face Dancer", as used in the third track's title Zoal, Face Dancer, is a type of human in the series who can shapeshift. And the character of Zoal is one of those Face Dancers. Track six, Feyd Rautha Dark Heart, refers to the primary antagonist of the first novel in the Dune series, named Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen. Shadout Mapes, the tenth track, refers to an honourary title and a minor character of the same name. Track eleven, Beast Infection, refers to the "Beast" nickname of the character Rabban.

Name

The album's title refers to the fictional planet Giedi Prime, of the Dune universe. She also picked the title because at the time she thought she needed an album title that rhymes with Grimes.

Grimes did not expect that the album would be successful and so assumed that "no one" would ever hear it. She quotes this as being behind her reasoning for the album title and track names, and mentioned in a 2011 interview that the "decision has kind of haunted [her]". Though she later changed her mind, as she said in a 2020 interview that "[she] used to be embarrased about [the album title] but now thought that it's kinda cool."

Composition

Grimes said about the recording of the album:

❝ It all started because one day my friend and I did lots of speed, and then we were making music together, and then I guess he stopped being on speed but I was still on speed like all night so then I just went into my room and I made the song number three on the album – I forget what it’s called, and then I was like wow, this song’s so much better than anything I’ve ever made, and then I think I made song number two that night too, and then I made all the [other] songs probably within a month and a half. It made me lose inhibitions about singing and being weird. ❞

She also told Voir:

❝ I wanted to make a record that is a fantasy escape. I love music that makes me feel elsewhere, far away. ❞

Writing

In an interview with DMY Grimes explained:

❝ Usually when bands have lyrics, they’re so much less than the music. I don’t like music to feel too literal… I like music that I can’t understand…mostly in other languages. [She simply sings whatever comes into her head, loosely swelling with the rest of the song.] I like the idea that the story…you can think it up yourself. ❞

Production

The album was made solely with GarageBand, a violin, a Roland JUNO 6 vintage synthesizer (using only the white keyboard keys), a ukulele, a friend's guitar, and sound effects. Some of the drum effects were achieved by pencils being hit on a table.

In an interview with LOOKOUT, when asked about her recording process, Grimes said the following:

❝ I’m pretty technically limited, so I kind of make the music that I can make, if that makes sense? It’s really simple because that’s the only way I can make music. Like, every song is 4/4, most are 120 bpm and most are in the key of C. I’m trying to move on from that right now. I make music that I want to hear. Or I try to. ❞

Album Visuals

Album Artwork

Grimes told LOOKOUT she used "ink and food colouring" for her artwork.

The hearts with an eye in the middle resemble the Comme des Garçons logo, which is a copyrighted symbol that she unintentionally used because she didn't know that at the time, and also because "[she] was just really into roses at the time."

Album artwork

Artwork with text

No Pain in Pop edition artwork

2012 re-release artwork

Full album artwork

MySpace Poster

Alternative artwork

Nightcore version

<=

The album art, in Grimes words, is: "like a demon with the universe in its hair."

Tracklist

• Standard
• Nightcore Edition

Geidi Primes
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	Caladan	Grimes	Grimes	2:26
2.	Sardaukar Levenbrech	Grimes	Grimes	2:06
3.	Zoal, Face Dancer	Grimes	Grimes	2:36
4.	Rosa	Grimes	Grimes	3:13
5.	Avi	Grimes	Grimes	2:36
6.	Feyd Rautha Dark Heart	Grimes	Grimes	3:42
7.	Gambang	Grimes	Grimes	1:34
8.	Venus in Fleurs	Grimes	Grimes	2:43
9.	Grisgris	Grimes	Grimes	3:23
10.	Shadout Mapes	Grimes	Grimes	4:32
11.	Beast Infection	Grimes	Grimes	2:21
Total length:				31:12

Note:

All songs have (Nightcore Mix) after their name, with the exclusion of Sardaukar Levenbrech, mispelt as Sardaukar Levanbrech, which is (Reverse Nightcore Mix). Shadout Mapes was not included on the album.

Geidi Primes
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	Caladan	Grimes	Grimes	2:10
2.	Sardaukar Levanbrech	Grimes	Grimes	1:46
3.	Zoal, Face Dancer	Grimes	Grimes	2:19
4.	Rosa	Grimes	Grimes	2:52
5.	Avi	Grimes	Grimes	2:19
6.	Feyd Rautha Dark Heart	Grimes	Grimes	2:56
7.	Gambang	Grimes	Grimes	1:30
8.	Venus in Fleurs	Grimes	Grimes	2:37
9.	Grisgris	Grimes	Grimes	2:41
10.	Beast Infection	Grimes	Grimes	1:59
Total length:				23:09

Credits

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Geidi Primes.

• Grimes – vocals, production, artwork
• Erik Zuuring – design, layout
• Sebastian Cowan – mastering

Trivia

• Geidi Primes is the only Grimes album to not have any regional or deluxe tracks.
• Grimes has never performed any of the Geidi Primes songs as she doesn't know how to play the songs live (as of 2010).
• Retrospectively Grimes told DMY: [I was] holding back… I was trying to be too… accessible or something… I had to do Geidi Primes because I had to like, spew out what was obvious. It had to be done before I could actually start making and learning. [..] I [had] just broke up with my boyfriend.
• Grimes no longer has any of the raw files for the album, telling Connect Savannah: "When I made those records, I never thought anyone was going to hear them. So when they were done I just deleted them so I could have space on my computer hard drive."
• Grimes described the album's sound as "science fiction twee music" or "cyber twee" in an interview for Pitchfork, when asked to describe it in three words.
• The album was mastered on November 24, 2009.
• The album was intented to come out before the end of December 2009.