Protomartyr - Hotel Usona
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Recorded with legendary producer Dave Fridmann at Tarbox Road Studios in western New York, Hotel Usona is Protomartyr's seventh full-length studio album. It finds the Detroit post-punk group facing the horrors of the present moment head on. This is not easy listening, but it feels essential.
Over two decades, Protomartyr have built a remarkable body of work by moving through darkness and confronting what frightens, saddens, disgusts and enrages us. Here, Joe Casey, Alex Leonard, Scott Davidson and Greg Ahee sound utterly locked in.
Casey imagines America as an ageing hotel, each song a room haunted by its own guest: modern paralysis on Sounds We Cannot Hear, AI on Feed the Sewer, deportation on Third Country, warped patriotism on Exalted Eagles, violence on The Knife Dream, JD Vance on Converts, and fatherhood on Checking Out.
Musically, Ahee draws on Middle Eastern sounds and '50s exotica, while Fridmann gives everything extra weight and clarity. Leonard's drumming is especially striking, and horns from Jon Fridmann add another vivid layer. Protomartyr have rarely sounded more powerful.