For their follow-up to 2020’s Immersion, Denver sludge trio Primitive Man have carved off a crushing four-track EP that documents some of their experiences during lockdown. “The pandemic started to pop off the week we started writing this, but there were plenty of things going on around us beforehand that made us feel like we were up against insurmountable odds,” vocalist/guitarist Ethan McCarthy tells Apple Music. “That’s where the title came from.” Still, McCarthy wants it known that Insurmountable is not solely about the pandemic. “This isn’t some lame-ass pandemic record,” he explains. “There was a lot going on at the time. I have a friend who’s a prominent activist who was in and out of jail all the time during the protests, and there was all this upheaval in my personal life. So, it’s really about the state of the world and what that looks like through my eyes.” Below, he details each track on the EP. “This Life” “That song is about how life can bring you to your knees. For us, a lot of that has to do with being a touring musician or any framework where you’re not making a lot of money. Which is most people that I know. So, it’s just about how the grind will bring you to your fucking knees. It can apply to anyone who’s not six-figuring it.” “Boiled” “We’ve been trying to do more noise stuff as a unit. Primitive Man has had noise tracks on our records, but I’ve done all of it. So, we’re just trying to showcase the band doing a piece together. The reason I called it ‘Boiled’ is because it kinda goes with the theme and the place we were at. Life just felt like a slow boil.” “Cage Intimacy” “This is about people who try to force a connection with you in order to manipulate you to get what they want. They might be involved with you in business, or a mutual friend or colleague, and they use this specific method of manipulation where they force a familiarity or intimacy on you. I felt like there was a lot of that while we were all online-only during the pandemic. That shit exists everywhere, not just on the internet, but I felt like I was seeing a lot of that happening at the time.” “Quiet” “We did this cover because we love the Smashing Pumpkins so much. They are the greatest band of that time period—I don’t give a shit what anybody says. We chose the song because it’s [bassist] Jon [Campos]’s favorite. It was just so fun to do because I got to play a fucking guitar solo and all this shit that Primitive Man doesn’t normally do. We got to push our style onto Smashing Pumpkins, basically.”