Detroit’s post-punk Protomartyr’s European tour arrives at The Róisín Dubh on Thursday, October 19.
Composed of Joe Casey (vocals ), Greg Ahee (guitar ), Alex Leonard (percussion ), and Scott Davidson (bass ), the band are on the road after the release of their new album Formal Growth In The Desert.
Post-Covid, Casey and his bandmates regrouped with a sense of uncertainty, questioning if and how to continue after the turbulence of the pandemic years. They found themselves using that ambivalence to hone a song they named after a chapter from a 1950’s teen dance manual. ‘Elimination Dances’ refers to a game where “you get tapped out when you lose the dance,” and that felt right for the band. “Life is a struggle, but you might as well keep dancing until the tap comes,” says Casey.
The video for ‘Elimination Dances’ is directed by Yoonha Park, and features mesmerising dancer Kota Yamazaki.
Protomartyr’s sixth album, Formal Growth In The Desert, was recorded at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas. However the album’s title is not necessarily a nod to the sandy expanses of the American southwest. Detroit, too, is like a desert: “The desert is more of a metaphor or symbol,” says Casey, “of emotional deserts, or a place or time that seems to lack life.” The desert brings an existential awareness that is ultimately internal.
Protomartyr’s music — more spacious and dynamic than ever — helped pull Casey together after the death of his mother and being forced to leave his childhood home after repeated break-ins.
Protomartyr have become synonymous with caustic, impressionistic assemblages of politics and poetry, the literal and oblique. Casey describes the underlying theme of Formal Growth In The Desert as a 12-song testament to “getting on with life,” even when it feels impossibly hard”.
Tickets from €19 from www.TheRoisinDubh.net for Thursday, October 19 at 8pm.
