The seventh album from the American post-punk band goes conceptual, imagining the US as a putrefying hotel inhabited by obnoxious stereotypes.
Back in 2023, music royalty Iggy Pop called out Protomartyr as ‘the best band we’ve got in America right now’. High praise indeed, and in truth the Detroiters do seem to give off a continuous impression that they’re in complete control of their craft. It’s the same aura of knowing experience that James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem emits; a measured command of their own identity, reflected in a disciplined catalogue of critically lauded material that rarely oversteps its technical breadth. Since arriving in 2012 with their largely unnoticed debut No Passion All Technique, they’ve moved from strength to strength as critics have paid increasing attention to their work. So clearly, they’re doing something right.
Much like other high flying contemporary post-punk’ers, their formula owes to a moulding of the original ‘70s post-punk sensibilities with something personal and familiar; in their case, it’s the raw, high-energy style of Motor-City Garage Rock. Drawing on that unpolished influence pioneered by the likes of Iggy and The Stooges (no wonder he likes them), along with vocalist Joe Casey’s powerful baritone voice, the final product is a sound which has consistently won them accolades for its ornate precision and moody atmospherics.
The gradual evolution of their sound over the past decade or has seen them look beyond the finite realms of traditional post-punk arrangement, eventually incorporating brass instruments and more expansive textures on 2020’s Ultimate Success Today before their last outing Formal Growth In The Desert introduced a heightened sense of emotional vulnerability in Casey’s lyricism. On their latest LP Hotel Usona, they take aim at the domestic turmoil their home nation finds itself in; which isn’t exactly new territory given Casey’s penchant for sardonic political commentary has been a semi-regular fixture throughout their discography.
As a concept album, it’s a relatively straightforward but clever enough metaphor; the US is a dilapidated hotel, crammed full of reprehensible guests who refuse to vacate. As the album progresses, Casey confronts topical issues like AI, immigration enforcement, political violence and twisted patriotism; all with his characteristic satirical venom. Whilst it might not be overflowing with deft subtlety, it works. Partly on account of its suitably incisive lyricism, but primarily due to the captivating juxtaposition of sonics. Alongside Alex Leonard’s watertight drumming (a real standout of the album) and the usual angular post-punk abrasion is the return of brass arrangements, but strangely enough the introduction of some ‘50’s exotica; making sections of the album sound like pernicious lounge music.
It creates a bizarre, unsettling atmosphere wherein the inviting tone of the instrumentals is at odds with Casey’s deadpan derision of a society overflowing with grotesque stereotypes. Regardless of whether this sonic mismatch was intentional, it’s a fortuitous outcome; the overarching political metaphor that’s deployed throughout is bordering on being overwrought to the point of complete exhaustion. Taking a swipe at the MAGA lot has become so straightforward a target that it feels a somewhat rudimentary attempt at satire; Hotel Usona just about avoids this trap, purely because of the brilliantly intelligent musical arrangement which surrounds these fairly common metaphorical musings.
Protomartyr have reached a point in their careers where their musicianship is a reasonable fallback against any homogenised thematic slips. Whatever Hotel Usona lacks in high-brow sophisticated nuance, it makes up for in atmospheric peculiarity that’s thrilling enough to suck you in and look past any lyrical passages which catch you on the nose. Going down the route of a concept album was always going to be inherently risky, but in this case Protomartyr’s musical imagination eclipses their conceptual one; plus, they have been around the block enough times to be able to pull it off. Just about.
