Savor life despite it.
After the launch of Ultimate Success Today (2020) split right in half due to confinement, Joe Casey and company were considering the possibility of a definitive cessation of their musical life. The following months between distancing, restlessness and funeral defibrillations seemed to highlight this same line of finitude. Even so, and clinging to the intentions of the vocalist’s mother (RIP), Protomartyr He would be able to condense his emotions to “find happiness in a cloudless sky.” This throughout the twelve tracks that make up Formal Growth In The Desert.
Recorded in the studios Sonic Ranch (Tornillo, TX) under the shelter of Domino Recording, the material presents us with the new face of the quartet; Sharp, ultra-sensitive and as exposed as nickel-plated strings allow. The doors open with the emotionally vague tear of “Make Way”cut and revolutionized almost immediately by the speed inside “For Tomorrow”. He tracklist It develops close in musicality to past works, but without any intention of ignoring what has happened.
“Elimination Dances” percussively hypnotizes us to fully receive the onslaught of nostalgia within “Fun In Hi Skool”; “Remember… when things were good. Remember…when we were still young.” The album maintains this line of bittersweet emotions from beginning to end. Each cut seems to serve as micro-expressions of an even greater grief; guilty of wanting to show himself to the world; liberated by reaching the sensitivity of others, at the mercy of himself; swallowing his own anger to reach out to heaven and thank him for such good service.
“Let’s tip the creator.
Enriching our lives, wasting away.
Oh such a shame.”
We arrive sonically until we meet “Graft Vs. Host” as the backbone of the journey. The message, previously only suggested, becomes everything that surrounds us. We must force ourselves to experience happiness even after desolation. Passing through the echo of your mother about to become extinct, among the savagery of the tigers (“3800 Tigers”) devastating any nature, doubting whether you can hate yourself and still deserve love. The only thing left is to chew it “Polacrilex Kid”chew it until you can come back to you
“Fulfillment Center” serves as a metaphorical and musical transition, this between blasts of shoegaze almost noise and patient acceptance between the lines of “We Know The Rats”. The light, abrasive style of the production (courtesy of guitarist Greg Ahee) works perfectly by accentuating the character of the album, with the jugular barely clear to breathe in the soundscapes at the bottom of each track.
Formal Growth In The Desert He bids us farewell with a final onslaught via “The Author”followed by “Rain Garden”. Time remains antagonistic, but love has found us. Now him decay The overdrive is diluted between the ascending textures, nods to Coney Island, Baja Blast bottles and the sweetness of a life that continues between lips.
“Oh my love, make a way for my love.
My love, kiss me.
Kiss me before I go.”
