Hotline TNT — the New York-based project of indie stalwart Will Anderson — announces their signing to Third Man Records, and presents their new single/video, “Protocol.” Hotline TNT’s 2021 debut on California taste making label Smoking Room — Nineteen in Love — embodied his devotion to strong hooks and distortion, dripping like sour honey. The group toured relentlessly, enduring seemingly endless line up shifts to become a linchpin of several interconnecting DIY scenes. Their audience steadily ballooned, with Nineteen in Love becoming a coveted LP. It remains an inspiring document of (and to) blown-out beauty.

“Protocol” is sunswept and sad, as if frowning in the middle of a party. Like Teenage Fanclub battling Jesu for speaker space, a jubilant guitar jangle and arching melody counter shards of noise and a punishing rhythm section.