The latest album from genre-warping experimentalists Protomartyr, Hotel Usona, is due out this Friday, and it finds the band working with producer David Fridmann to continue their boundaryless evocation of countless musical histories. This latest album turns its eye toward America and how compartmentalized the country has become in recent years, with each song acting as a different scene, a different room in a large hotel, from which we glean some small measure of humanity’s desperation, heartache, and hopefulness. Noisy and chaotic and blissful, the record paints a complicated portrait of a people in crisis, of voices rising in a storm of conflict and disillusion. How can we find the truth, and how can that truth bring release? Maybe Protomartyr has found the answer.
On their final preview of Hotel Usona, they deliver a vicious takedown of asinine governmental polices and the mutated perspectives that they can nurture. Guitars streak across the sky like rusted stars, Casey’s voice offering a sermon for anyone within earshot. The music rises until we’re swept up in a blur of clanging percussion and corrugated riffs, propelling a steam-driven machine ever forward that seeks to lay waste to all in its path. Is the country locked in a death spiral, or can we pull ourselves out? I guess we’ll see.
Singer Joe Casey says: “[‘Exalted Eagles’ is] the last taste from Hotel Usona before it comes out on Friday. So now that you’ve heard a third of the album are you sold? If in doubt, remember: Annuit cœptis! PS: please leave a review and tell your friends. The algorithm needs all the help it can get.”
Listen to the song below.
Tour Dates:
Tue. Sept. 22 – Paris, FR @ Lithium [Album Playback + Q&A]
Thu. Sept. 24 – London, UK @ The Nickel [Cinema Takeover + Q&A]
Fri. Sept. 25 – Berlin, DE @ Rough Trade [Album Playback, Q&A, DJ Set + Signing]
Mon. Oct. 19 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom *
Tue. Oct. 20 – San Diego, CA @ Casbah *
Thu. Oct. 22 – Los Angeles, CA @ Regent *
Fri. Oct. 23 – San Jose, CA @ the Ritz *
Sat. Oct. 24 – San Francisco, CA @ August Hall *
Tue. Oct. 27 – Seattle, WA @ Neumos *
Wed. Oct. 28 – Vancouver, BC @ The Pearl *
Thu. Oct. 29 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin *
Sat. Oct. 31 – Austin, TX @ Far Out Lounge ^
Sat. Nov. 7 – Toronto, ON @ Concert Hall #
Sun. Nov. 8 – Montreal, QC @ Les Foufounes Électriques #
Tue. Nov. 10 – Boston, MA @ Crystal Ballroom #
Wed. Nov. 11 – Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
Thu. Nov. 12 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall #
Fri. Nov. 13 – Washington, DC @ Black Cat #
Sat. Nov. 14 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle #
Sun. Nov. 15 – Asheville, NC @ Eulogy #
Tue. Nov. 17 – Nashville, TN @ Basement East #
Wed. Nov. 18 – St. Louis, MO @ Duck Room #
Thu. Nov. 19 – Chicago @ Metro #
Fri. Dec. 4 – Detroit, MI @ Majestic
Thu. Feb. 11 – Leeds, UK @ Irish Center
Fri. Feb. 12 – Glasgow, UK @ The Garage
Sat. Feb. 13 – Manchester, UK @ Band on the Wall
Mon. Feb. 15 – Bristol, UK @ The Lantern
Tue. Feb. 16 – London, UK @ Electric Brixton
Thu. Feb. 18 – Lille, FR @ L’Aeronef
Fri. Feb. 19 – Paris, FR @ Le Trabendo
Sat. Feb. 20 – Brussels, BE @ Le Botanique
Mon. Feb. 22 – Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
Tue. Feb. 23 – Hamburg, DE @ Bahnhof Pauli
Wed. Feb. 24 – Copenhagen, DK @ Pumpehuset
Fri. Feb. 26 – Berlin, DE @ Bi Nuu Club
Sat. Feb. 27 – Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz
Sun. Feb. 28 – Prague, CZ @ Meet Factory
* w/ Accessory
^ w/ the Jesus and Mary Chain
# w/ J.R.C.G
Hotel Usona is due out September 25 via Domino. You can pre-order thew album here. Follow the band on Facebook, X, and Instagram.
