Protomartyr – Sounds We Cannot Hear
Protomartyr have announced a new album, Hotel Usona, out September 25 via Domino, and shared the lead single “Sounds We Cannot Hear” alongside it. Joe Casey builds the record around a single image: America as a rundown hotel, with each of the album’s songs occupying a room haunted by its own uneasy guest.
“Sounds We Cannot Hear” sets the tone early. Casey spends the song working through the specific kind of numbness that comes from constant scrolling and information overload, less a lecture than a flat, exhausted account of what that state actually feels like. Musically, Ahee pulls in influences from Middle Eastern music and 1950s exotica records, adding new texture to a band that’s never been shy about expanding its own palette. The video, directed by Danny Scharar and Harris Mayersohn, stars Nate Varrone (“The Bear”) as a man unraveling in a sushi restaurant, cut together from three angles at once: straight cinematography, Instagram-style footage, and surveillance camera views, which suits a song about losing your grip on your own narrative.
Iggy Pop wrote the album’s liner notes, and it’s a genuine, if slightly odd, honor: the Detroit legend praises Casey’s delivery directly, calling it “a beautiful voice that you want to listen to.” What I like is that the compliment doesn’t read as a formality. Pop clearly listened to the whole thing and heard something in it worth defending. It follows 2023’s Formal Growth in the Desert, and if this single is any indication, Hotel Usona pushes that record’s tension somewhere louder and angrier.
Protomartyr head out on an extensive run this fall and into next year, including a stop supporting the Jesus and Mary Chain in Austin.
Tour Dates:
USA:
- Fri. Sep. 25 / Hotel Usona LP (Domino) North America:
- Mon. Oct. 19 / Phoenix, AZ / Crescent Ballroom (with Accessory)
- Tue. Oct. 20 / San Diego, CA / Casbah (with Accessory)
- Thu. Oct. 22 / Los Angeles, CA / Regent (with Accessory)
- Fri. Oct. 23 / San Jose, CA / the Ritz (with Accessory)
- Sat. Oct. 24 / San Francisco, CA / August Hall (with Accessory)
- Tue. Oct. 27 / Seattle, WA / Neumos (with Accessory)
- Wed. Oct. 28 / Vancouver, BC / The Pearl (with Accessory)
- Thu. Oct. 29 / Portland, OR / Aladdin (with Accessory)
- Sat. Oct. 31 / Austin, TX / Far Out Lounge (with the Jesus and Mary Chain)
- Sat. Nov. 7 / Toronto, ON / Concert Hall (with J.R.C.G)
- Sun. Nov. 8 / Montreal, QC / Les Foufounes Électriques (with J.R.C.G)
- Tue. Nov. 10 / Boston, MA / Crystal Ballroom (with J.R.C.G)
- Wed. Nov. 11 / Philadelphia, PA / First Unitarian Church
- Thu. Nov. 12 / New York, NY / Webster Hall (with J.R.C.G)
- Fri. Nov. 13 / Washington, DC / Black Cat (with J.R.C.G)
- Sat. Nov. 14 / Carrboro, NC / Cat’s Cradle (with J.R.C.G)
- Sun. Nov. 15 / Asheville, NC / Eulogy (with J.R.C.G)
- Tue. Nov. 17 / Nashville, TN / Basement East (with J.R.C.G)
- Wed. Nov. 18 / St. Louis, MO / Duck Room (with J.R.C.G)
- Thu. Nov. 19 / Chicago, IL / Metro (with J.R.C.G)
- Fri. Dec. 4 / Detroit, MI / Majestic
Europe:
- 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
