release date: Sep. 29, 2017
format: digital (12 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,82]
producer: Protomartyr & Sonny DiPerri
label: Domino - nationality: USA
Track highlights: 1. "A Private Understanding" (4 / 5) - 3. "My Children" - 4. "Caitriona" - 5. "The Chuckler" - 6. "Windsor Hum" - 7. "Don't Go to Anacita" (4 / 5) - 9. "Night-Blooming Cereus" - 12. "Half Sister"
4th studio album by Protomartyr follows two years after The Agent Intellect (Oct. 2015). The album is the band's first to have actual producer credits as their previous releases only mention recording engineers.
Stylewise, the band has progressed from a more minimalist version of garage rock and post-punk to a more refined version still drawing on both styles in combination of more complexity bonding with indie rock and echoing The Bad Seeds, Pixies, and Modest Mouse - in their most tense versions, and sometimes with small hints of The National. That said, Protomartyr are still very much post-punk revivalists in the tradition where both Interpol and Joy Division play their parts. Greg Ahee's guitar swirls and roars as if a clone of Daniel Kessler (Interpol) Isaac Brock (Modest Mouse), and Black Francis (Pixies), while bassist Scott Davidson and drummer Alex Leonard are both highly familiar with Peter Hook and Stephen Morris of New Order / Joy Division. And in front of it all, vocalist Joe Casey fills in with sheer parts of Nick Cave, Matt Berninger, Ian Curtis - at times with a distinct Mark E. Smith (The Fall) wryness on top of his own original sneer. It's both dark, noisy, melodic, and first of all: pretty lively.
Bottom line: it's easily the band's so far best album, and a highly recommended listen.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, 👍NME, Record Collector 4 / 5, 👎Pitchfork 6,9 / 10, The Guardian 5 / 5 stars ]
