Protomartyr present new single "Elimination Dances"

“Elimination Dances” named after a chapter from a 1950’s teen dance manual and refers to a game where “you get tapped out when you lose the dance,” and that felt an apt metaphor for just surviving in a post-pandemic world. Life is a struggle, but “you might as well keep dancing until the tap comes,” vocalist Joe Casey says.

Following lead single “Make Way”, the new track is presented alongside a video directed by Yoonha Park, and features dancer Kota Yamazaki.

“My dad once told me ‘Life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end the faster it goes,’” explains Park. “That idea along with the lyrics led to the idea of a choreographic pattern that repeats as it grows outward in an expanding spiral. The choreography repeats with each cycle but has to be danced faster and faster to keep pace with the ‘pale youth’ until eventually devolving into chaos. I recently learned that the toilet paper quote was actually by Andy Rooney.”

Formal Growth In The Desert is Protomartyr's sixth studio album – following on from 2020's Ultimate Success Today. It was recorded at Sonic Ranch in Tornillo, Texas, and co-produced by guitarist Greg Ahee alongside Jake Aron (Snail Mail, L’Rain).

“The desert is more of a metaphor or symbol,” Casey says, “of emotional deserts, or a place or time that seems to lack life.” Meanwhile, the “growth” came from a period of colossal transition for Casey, including the death of his mother, who struggled with Alzheimer’s for a decade and a half.