Protomartyr – The Agent Intellect

As a self-proclaimed mumbler, Joe Casey frequently obscures his lyrics with drawls and gritted teeth, while gothic shards – echoing Joy Division’s brooding shadowplay – only add to Protomartyr’s deliberate air of mystery. Clarity, it transpires, works best when used sparingly, as with the murky Cowards Starve and its preoccupation with “social pressures”. Then the chorus kicks in: “I will tear that mountain down,” bawls Casey, shortly before Greg Ahee’s guitar bursts into sunshine. Utterly glorious.

The Agent Intellect is filled with such contrasts, all steeped in the taut insistence of post-punk and a loose barfly shimmy. Indeed, it feels like they’re yearning for answers, particularly when grappling with The Devil In His Youth’s duality-of-man issues; even final track Feast of Stephen seems to end on a question mark. But whether opaque, sprightly or just plain gung-ho garage rock, Protomartyr revel in a gnarled inspiration that often feels sincerely profound. [Will Fitzpatrick]