Consolation E.P. is a four-track EP by Protomartyr. Two of the four songs feature Kelley Deal, a friend of the band, on vocals alongside singer Joe Casey.
Consider the urgency with which Protomartyr has approached everything —three albums in three years, each more extraordinary and rewarding than the last.
Protomartyr’s taut, austere rock was incubated in a freezing Detroit warehouse littered with beer cans and cigarette butts and warmed, feebly, by space heaters.
You can designate records as seasonal, and you can feel Preoccupation's Viet Cong's bleakness and declare it wintry. But the only way you get a frost is when there's something warmer to freeze up.
The South Londoner's blood and guts spirit, that wink and grin of devious charm, is still present, it's just that it's grown into something bigger, something deeper, more ambitious and unflinchingly honest.
"The band's defeatism takes on a new tenor: battle-worn, sincere, and not quite so antagonistic. That may mean that New Material lacks the punch of their feisty debut, but it also lends these songs a soothing quality." -Pitchfork