‘Ultimate Success Today’ is het vijfde album van Protomartyr. Na de release van ‘Relatives In Descent’, de veelgeprezen duik in het moeras van het Amerikaanse leven in 2017, blijft ‘Ultimate Success Today’ de mogelijkheden van hoe een Protomartyr album kan klinken verder uitbreiden.
Joe Casey on Ultimate Success Today: "The re-release of our first album had me thinking about the passage of time and its ultimate conclusion. My typical rosy outlook.
Listening to ‘No Passion All Technique again’, I could hear myself hoping for an introduction and a long future, but also being cognizant that it could be "one and done" for us. So, when it came time to write ‘Ultimate Success Today’, I was reminded of that first urgency and how it was an inverse of my current grapple with how terribly ill I’ve been feeling lately. Was that sick feeling coloring how I felt about the state of the world or was it the other way around?
Het album is opgenomen in de Dreamland Recording Studios, een eind 19e eeuwse kerk in upstate New Yrok en mede-geproduceerd door de band zelf en David Tolomei (Dirty Projectors, Beach House). Featuring guests zijn o.a. Nandi Rose (vocalen), aka Half Waif, jazz legende Jameel Moondoc (alto sax), Izaak Mills (basklarinet, sax, fluit) en Fred Lonberg (cello).