Day 15: Protomartyr — Relatives in Descent
It would be disingenuous for me to claim that Protomartyr is the kind of band that could only come from Detroit, because I’ve never been there. But there’s something about how each member of this scrappy Michigan four-piece maximizes his talents in the service of songs about lowdown characters, urban blight, and “unfettered capitalism” that makes me feel like it couldn’t come from anywhere else. On Relatives in Descent Protomartyr exhibit unparalleled control over their sparse, atmospheric take on post-punk, using it to create not just songs, but a lingering aura of oppressive dread that could only come from these guys at this moment in time.
As it stands, Protomartyr are one of the most egalitarian bands going, and their music is much stronger for it. Guitarist Greg Ahee, bassist Scott Davidson and drummer Alex Leonard each have more than a few standout moments where they get to set the tone. The idiosyncratic rhythms Leonard creates are as expressive as anything you’ll find in the world of indie drumming. He doesn’t keep a beat as much as create puzzles that Davidson and Ahee must solve. Davidson has the bass skills to keep stride with even the most complex of Leonard’s drumming choices, and proves himself adept when it’s time for his groove to take the lead on “Corpses In Regalia”. Ahee’s guitar playing thrives on creating unconventional and uncomfortable spaces, toying with dissonant concepts that just hold on enough to work. He’s expressive without being showy, and few of the sour notes he reaches for feel out of place.
The best songs on Relatives in Descent let each individual member create tension before uniting to release it. “A Private Understanding” pushes the group into an interesting space right away, with Leonard laying down an unconventional rhythm that Ahee pushing things in an unsettling direction. The resolution of that dissonance into and through the fuzzy, explosive chorus is an overwhelming payoff. The similarly foreboding “My Children” finds the three egging each other on as the anxiety ramps up, building to a breakdown that showcases Davidson and Leonard’s talents as an airtight rhythm section. On “Windsor Hum” Ahee lulls the listener into a sort of gothic trance while Leonard steadily beats out a pattern that a lesser drummer would use as a fill. The whole thing blooms into another satisfying chorus, showcasing their ability to veer in New and unexpected directions as a unit. I could write endlessly about all the ways protomartyr takes tricky ideas and makes them seem simple, but you really just need to listen to this record.
Of course, there’s no possible way to write about Protomartyr without offering up a description of Joe Casey. The everyman’s anti-frontman, Casey is equally adept at creating his own interior dystopias as he is at making sly observations about the one we currently occupy. “Here is A Thing” is a nearly stream of consciousness screed against the predatory billionaires reshaping his hometown in their image, a kind of stylistic successor to “Tarpeian Rock” from Under Color of Official Right. “My Children” finds him ruminating on the concept of a legacy defined more by creative output than offspring, using sardonic, self-deprecating lines like “vaped in the brain, feral vessels of my self-interest” to describe his lyrical legacy while enhancing it in the very same instant. Even ruminations on the mundanity of existence like “The Chuckler” are imbued with vivid details like pins on a thrift store coat and the smell of sauerkraut. He isn’t afraid to be blunt, either: “Up the Tower” finds Casey urging an angry mob to “knock it down” and “throw ‘em out” as his bandmates channel discomfiting range into a cacophony of sound. Referring to lyricists as poets feels like an overused trope, but Casey’s keenly observant, well-read approach to putting words to a song — not to mention his known limitations as a traditional vocalist — make the label apt.
The words and sounds assembled as they are here don’t bear an obvious resemblance to anything in indie rock right now. Protomartyr has put in the work to develop an organic sound, and they’ve mined that to create something that constantly flirts with disaster without falling off the rails. It’s not only their mature work, but their moodiest. Trying to unpack everything going on here over the past 24 hours has been equal parts overwhelming, exciting, and unsettling. I can’t think of a better recreation of these strange times we’re living through.
