Protomartyr are back with a new album called Formal Growth in the Desert. Stream it via Apple Music or Spotify below.

In a press release, Protomartyr singer Joe Casey recalled undergoing formal growth of his own — in his hometown of Detroit, though, more than the proper desert. The death of his mother following a 10-year-plus battle with Alzheimer’s combined with a series of break-ins in his family home prompted the artist to finally move out. “The desert is more of a metaphor or symbol,” he explained, “of emotional deserts, or a place or time that seems to lack life.”

Guitarist Greg Ahee co-produced Formal Growth In The Desert alongside Jake Aron. Lead single “Make Way” opens the album with alternating quiet and intensity, with western-sounding guitar and Casey’s low drawl building to commanding chants to, of course, “make way.” The track comes with a music video directed by Trevor Naud, who explained in a statement that “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.”

Watch the clip for “Make Way” below, and scroll onward for the artwork and tracklist for Formal Growth in the Desert. The follow-up to 2020’s Ultimate Success Today was also previewed by the singles “Elimination Dances” and “Polacrilex Kid.”

Protomartyr are currently on a lengthy world tour that will wrap its North American leg in July before heading over to Europe and the UK. See their full list of tour dates below, and grab tickets via Stubhub.

Formal Growth in the Desert Artwork: