Protomartyr announced their previous album Ultimate Success Today about this time three years ago, on the same day the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. That was unfortunate timing. Hopefully (for them and for everyone else) this next rollout goes more smoothly: In June, the Detroit rock veterans will release Formal Growth In The Desert, which frontman Joe Casey bills as an album about “getting on with life.” Its lead single “Make Way” is out now.

“Make Way” is also the new album’s opening track, and it starts immediately, albeit on a low-key note. “Welcome to the haunted earth,” Casey sings, against impressionistic guitar. “The living after life/ Where we chose to forget/ The years of the Hungry Knife.” Soon the sonic violence is rolling in, a sort of Spaghetti Western post-rock vibe takes hold, and Protomartyr are sounding as vital as ever.

There’s a video for the song by Trevor Naud, who says it’s connected to his past work with Protomartyr:

There’s a deliberate through-line between the videos for “Make Way” and 2020’s “Worm In Heaven.” The two songs feel partnered with each other, so I wanted the videos to feel like they exist in the same world. There are layers of experiments happening — all within a closed environment. We don’t know what’s happened to the world outside, but there’s an undertone that things maybe aren’t quite right.

Watch below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Make Way”
02 “For Tomorrow”
03 “Elimination Dances”
04 “Fun In Hi Skool”
05 “Let’s Tip The Creator”
06 “Graft Vs. Host”
07 “3800 Tigers”
08 “Polacrilex Kid”
09 “Fulfillment Center”
10 “We Know The Rats”
11 “The Author”
12 “Rain Garden”

Formal Growth In The Desert is out 6/2 on Domino.