Detroit based quartet Protomartyr includes Joe Case (vocalist), Greg Ahee (guitar), Alex Leonard (drums), and Scott Davidson (bass). This year, Protomartyr is turning ten years. Their debut No Passion All Technique came out in 2012, and it was followed by 2014 Under Color Of Official Right and 2015 The Agent Intellect. Last year, they gave us phenomenal Relatives in Descent.
What characterized its predecessors is high quality, and this record is no different. Protomartyr keep on creating dark post punk music centered around the verses written by Joe Case. We can say that their music is spoken-word poetry supported by musical background. Relatives in Descent is the first album Protomartyr release under independent label Domino. It is also their biggest label yet, which gave them publicity their music deserves to enjoy. At the same time, this gave the band a bigger budget for recording and a producer Sonny DiPierri who is famous for his work with Dirty Projectors, Animal Collective, Portugal and The Man.
Their music sounds more lucid and precise, but still obscure and full of angst. Dirty riffs and melodic lines of greg Ahee in combination with intricate and sturdy rhythm section create tension and provide luring dynamic. Relatives in Descent points finger at the problems of modern society - poverty, politics, alienation, capitalism, etc - but it also offers more than that. In the moments when it touches the darkness in which our deepest fears materialize, it becomes an intimate confession not only of its authors, but also of everyone who sees the world as it is - a dark place where hope is only a marketing trick.
