Protomartyr’s “A Private Understanding” Is the Sound of Confusion

Detroit post-punkers Protomartyr have always made music that sounds like a panicked Wikipedia scramble, so it only makes sense that they’d be an apt soundtrack to an era where the general information overload has finally gone rotten and is employed with ill will by those in power. “A Private Understanding,” the first single from the band’s upcoming album Relatives in Descent, is that vision at its zenith.

Frontman Joe Casey’s brand of dour, erudite charisma has never been more engaging, with allusions to Stalin and the beliefs of the Greek philosopher Heraclitus sitting next to pained, direct outbursts (“she’s just trying to reach you,” Casey sings over and over as the guitars build into a typhoon at the end). “A Private Understanding” is well-timed rock and roll that tries to make sense of the ever-changing nature of the present and you can listen to it above through its accompanying video.

Phil is a Noisey staff writer. He’s on Twitter.