The Agent Intellect

The Agent Intellect
Studio album by Protomartyr
Released	9 October 2015 (2015-10-09)
Recorded	The Key Club in Benton Harbor, Michigan [1]
Genre	Post-punk indie rock noise rock
Length	44:11
Label	Hardly Art
Protomartyr chronology
Under Color of Official Right (2014) The Agent Intellect (2015) Relatives in Descent (2017)
Singles from The Agent Intellect
"Why Does It Shake?" Released: 14 July 2015 "Dope Cloud" Released: 25 August 2015 "I Forgive You" Released: September 28, 2015

The Agent Intellect is the third studio album by Detroit post-punk band Protomartyr, released on 9 October 2015 on Hardly Art. ^[2] Produced, recorded and mixed by Bill Skibbe at Key Club Recording in Benton Harbor, Michigan, the album was preceded by the singles, "Why Does It Shake?", "Dope Cloud" and "I Forgive You". ^{[3] [4]}

The album is named after an ancient medieval philosophical questioning of how the mind operates in relation to the so-called active intellect, also known as agent intellect and other names. ^[5] The album was released to widespread critical acclaim, increasing Protomartyr's exposure significantly, and placed highly on several critics and publications' end-of-year lists.

Background and recording

After touring extensively in support of their previous studio album, Under Color of Official Right (2014), the band wrote The Agent Intellect collectively at bass guitarist Scott Davidson's basement; a practice space the band collectively named the "No Bummer Zone". ^[6] Frontman Joe Casey reflected: "We’d go over there a couple of times a week. I was still working as the doorman at a comedy club at the time. It was before we thought that rock’n’roll was gonna save us. I remember writing stuff pretty quick, and I do remember that was the first time we were like, ‘let’s really try to write different stuff, let’s try to experiment.’" ^[6]

Release

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	8.0/10 [7]
Metacritic	85/100 [8]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[9]
The A.V. Club	B+ [10]
Chicago Tribune	[11]
Consequence of Sound	A− [12]
The Guardian	[13]
NME	4/5 [14]
Pitchfork	8.2/10 [15]
Q	[16]
Rolling Stone	[17]
Spin	8/10 [18]

Critical reception

The Agent Intellect was met with positive reviews from contemporary reviewers. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 85, which indicates "Universal acclaim", based on 20 reviews. ^[8] The Guardian critic Kate Hutchinson thought: "This isn’t spiky postpunk like their last album – it’s more unhinged: they’ve swapped hooks for a dirgy epicness, distortion bulldozes through, sometimes flaring angrily, punctured by driving, truly affecting drums. As poignant as those images of a decrepit Motor City, once brilliant, now decayed." ^[13] Sam Lefebvre of Paste magazine described the album as "an album of spindly bass, needling guitar and economical drums." Lefebvre further added "And yet, with Protomartyr’s inventive ensemble flare, it sounds like much more." ^[19]

Kyle Ryan of The A.V. Club thought that: "The Agent Intellect is an impressive addition to the band’s small discography, and it hints that bigger, bolder work may lay ahead.". ^[10] AllMusic thought that: "Protomartyr's music is smart without wearing its intellect on its sleeve, and physically strong enough to support the ideas lurking behind Casey's lyrics, and The Agent Intellect is an album that challenges both the mind and the body; if you're looking for further confirmation that Protomartyr are one of the smartest and toughest bands of their day, this album is what you need.". ^[9] In a review for Rolling Stone , Zach Kelly thought that: this LP feels like a testament to perseverance, with world-weary humor and introspection providing flashes of clarity". ^[17]

Accolades & covers

Pitchfork and Pretty Much Amazing ranked the track "Dope Cloud" the 98th and 89th best track of 2015 respectively. ^{[20] [21]} Thrillist included it on their list "The 25 Most 'Detroit' Songs Ever Recorded". ^[22]

Oliver Ackermann of A Place to Bury Strangers included The Agent Intellect among his favorite albums of the year, calling it a "[f]ucking wicked record." ^[23] In 2017, David Bazan of Pedro The Lion fame covered "The Devil in His Youth" for the anti-Trump compilation Our First 100 Days . ^[24] Preoccupations covered the track "Pontiac 87" as the b-side of a split single with Protomartyr in 2018. ^[25]

Year-end

Publication	Accolade	Year	Rank
The A.V. Club	The 15 Best Albums of 2015	2015	11 [26]
Chicago Tribune (Greg Kot)	The 10 Best Albums of 2015	2015	3 [27]
Rolling Stone (Rob Sheffield)	The Top 20 Albums of 2015	2015	9 [28]
Metacritic	The Best Albums of 2015	2015	17 [29]
Spin	The 50 Best Albums of 2015	2015	20 [30]
Consequence of Sound	Top 50 Albums of 2015	2015	13 [31]

Miscellaneous

Publication	Country	Accolade	Year	Rank
Aquarium Drunkard	US	Decade / 2010-19	2019	- [32]
Spex	Germany	Best Albums 2010-2019	2019	178 [33]
Dansende Beren	Netherlands	100 Best Albums of the Decade (2010-2019) - International	2019	- [34]
Kalporz	Italy	The Best Albums of the 2010s	2019	29 [35]
[sic] Magazine	US	Sub-Ed’s Top 100 Albums Of The Decade	2020	34 [36]

Usage in media

The song "Cowards Starve" has been used in the third episode of 13 Reasons Why's first season. ^[37]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Protomartyr.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Devil in His Youth"	2:39
2.	"Cowards Starve"	3:38
3.	"I Forgive You"	3:03
4.	"Boyce or Boice"	3:39
5.	"Pontiac 87"	4:33
6.	"Uncle Mother's"	4:21
7.	"Dope Cloud"	2:58
8.	"The Hermit"	2:34
9.	"Clandestine Time"	3:09
10.	"Why Does It Shake?"	4:47
11.	"Ellen"	6:24
12.	"Feast of Stephen"	2:26
Total length:		44:11

Personnel

• Bass Guitar – Scott Davidson
• Drums – Alex Leonard
• Guitar, Keyboards – Greg Ahee
• Vocals – Joe Casey
• Writing ["All Songs By"] – Protomartyr

Additional credits

• Mastering – Sarah Register
• Recording, Mixing – Bill Skibbe
• Recording ["Additional"] – Derek Stanton
• Vocals ["Additional"] – Dina Bankole, Jenny Junior

Charts

Chart (2015)	Peak position
US Top Heatseekers Albums ( Billboard ) [38]	3

References

1. "Q&A: Protomartyr On Their New Album The Agent Intellect + "Why Does It Shake?"". July 14, 2015.
2. Art, Hardly. "Shop for Protomartyr". Hardly Art. Archived from the original on December 24, 2019. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
3. "Protomartyr Announce 'The Agent Intellect' LP With Shuddering 'Why Does It Shake?'". Spin. July 14, 2015.
4. "Protomartyr shares new song "I Forgive You" -- listen". September 28, 2015.
5. "The Agent Intellect, by Protomartyr". Protomartyr.
6. "10 years on, Joe Casey revisits Protomartyr's The Agent Intellect". Loud & Quiet. October 20, 2025.
7. "The Agent Intellect by Protomartyr reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved April 20, 2019.
8. "Reviews for The Agent Intellect by Protomartyr". Metacritic . Retrieved October 13, 2015.
9. Deming, Mark. "The Agent Intellect – Protomartyr". AllMusic . Retrieved October 11, 2015.
10. Ryan, Kyle (October 9, 2015). "Protomartyr's winning streak continues on its second album in two years". The A.V. Club . Retrieved October 11, 2015.
11. Kot, Greg (October 9, 2015). "Protomartyr finds hope amid rubble in 'The Agent Intellect'". Chicago Tribune . Retrieved November 1, 2018.
12. Cosores, Philip (October 8, 2015). "Protomartyr – The Agent Intellect". Consequence of Sound . Retrieved October 8, 2015.
13. Hutchinson, Kate (October 1, 2015). "Protomartyr: The Agent Intellect review – epic, dirgy portrait of gravelly malaise". The Guardian . Retrieved October 7, 2015.
14. Gardner, Noel (October 8, 2015). "Protomartyr – 'The Agent Intellect'". NME . Archived from the original on October 11, 2015. Retrieved October 11, 2015.
15. Keyes, J. Edward (October 7, 2015). "Protomartyr: The Agent Intellect". Pitchfork . Retrieved October 7, 2015.
16. "Protomartyr: The Agent Intellect". Q (352): 115. November 2015.
17. Kelly, Zach (October 7, 2015). "The Agent Intellect". Rolling Stone . Retrieved October 7, 2015.
18. Unterberger, Andrew (October 6, 2015). "Review: Protomartyr See Life Through to Its Lack of Conclusion on 'The Agent Intellect'". Spin . Retrieved October 7, 2015.
19. Lefebvre, Sam (October 6, 2015). "Protomartyr: The Agent Intellect Review". Paste . Retrieved October 7, 2015.
20. "The 100 Best Songs of 2015". Pitchfork.
21. Amazing, Pretty Much. "The 100 Best Songs of 2015". Pretty Much Amazing.
22. Frye, Megan. "The 25 Most 'Detroit' Songs Ever Recorded". Thrillist.
23. Redfern, Mark. "2015 Artist Survey: A Place to Bury Strangers". undertheradarmag.com.
24. "David Bazan – "The Devil In His Youth" (Protomartyr Cover)". Stereogum . April 26, 2017. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
25. "Protomartyr - "Forbidden" (Preoccupations Cover)". Spin. October 24, 2018.
26. "The 15 Best Albums Of 2015". The A.V. Club . The Onion. December 7, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
27. Kot, Greg. "Best albums of 2015: Kendrick Lamar, Courtney Barnett and more". chicagotribune.com.
28. Sheffield, Rob (December 18, 2015). "Rob Sheffield's Top 20 Albums of 2015". Rolling Stone .
29. "The Best Albums of 2015". Metacritic. Archived from the original on December 16, 2020. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
30. "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Spin. December 1, 2015.
31. "Top 50 Albums of 2015". December 2, 2015.
32. "Aquarium Drunkard : Decade / 2010-19". Aquarium Drunkard. October 30, 2019.
33. Redaktion, SPEX (December 6, 2019). "Die besten Alben 2010-2019: Platz 200 bis 151". SPEX (in German). Retrieved December 8, 2020.
34. "De 100 beste albums van het decennium (2010-2019)". Dansende Beren (in Dutch). Retrieved December 8, 2020.
35. "I migliori ALBUM degli Anni Dieci". Kalporz (in Italian). November 20, 2019. Retrieved December 8, 2020.
36. "[sic] Magazine - Sub-Ed's Top 100 Albums Of The Decade".
37. Keaney, Quinn (June 5, 2017). ""Cowards Starve" by Protomartyr". POPSUGAR Entertainment.
38. "Protomartyr - Chart history | Billboard". Billboard . Retrieved October 23, 2015.