Protomartyr - Under Color of Official Right

Protomartyr
Under Color of Official Right
8 April 2014
Hardly Art

4 stars out of 5

 

Detroit’s garage-y post-punk ensemble Protomartyr have just released their second LP with the slippery title Under Color of Official Right. All the usual (early) Echo & the Bunnymen  and (early) Psychedelic Furs comparisons apply (with occasional touches of (middle) Replacements—see “Ain’t So Simple”), though in terms of recent artists Protomartyr have more kinship with The Prids than they do with Interpol. Despite the homage to early ‘80s UK post-punk, there isn’t much in the way of plagiarism here. If you were lazy you could compare Joe Casey’s vocal delivery to that of Mark E. Smith, but I hear more Jonathan Richman than Smith. Comparisons in general are lazy, so let’s move on.

Protomartyr play post-punk, traditionally a slick, polished, highly-stylized genre of music, as if it were garage punk, traditionally a rough, sloppy, highly-stylized genre of music. Think Joy Division as interpreted by the MC5. (Damn, that was a comparison, wasn’t it?) Standout track “Bad Advice” is a creeped-out after-midnight rush through a dark alley in the bad part of town. Other tracks like “Scum, Rise!” and “I Stare at Floors” display different facets of Protomartyr’s vision, showing it to be innovative and ambitious despite the very strict musical boundaries they’ve allowed themselves to operate within.

Under Color of Official Right is a finely-detailed piece of art, but one that doesn’t yield its treasures right away. It takes a few listens to get a good sense of the mechanics of what’s going on under the genre exercises. It could be seen as a sister album to The Prids’ Until the World Is Beautiful, in that both are very good records in the UK post-punk tradition coming from unusual places (Detroit? St. Joseph, fucking Missouri?!), and both make it difficult to guess what year they were made in (2001? 1981?). If you’ve never heard of either band, check them both out. Very worthwhile.

reviewed by Richard Krueger