Here’s another one they did not offer up: “breezily triumphant return.”

Near the end of 2012, Protect-U’s European tour experienced an abrupt and nasty ending: Thieves lifted all of Mike Petillo and Aaron Leitko’s equipment from an allegedly secure back room after a show in Paris. With their gear in the wind, it looked like the pair’s 2012 single “Motorbike” would be the last thing Protect-U would release for a long time.

But thanks to the help of Protect-U’s friends and supporters, Leitko and Petillo raised enough money in a crowdfunding campaign to help rebuild their electronic arsenal. The first audible result of their time working with their new equipment, “Time 2 Technique” places an urgent funk-inspired beat under brighter, more celestial melodies.

The tune will appear on Protect-U’s debut nine-song LP, “Free USA,” out May 13 on local imprint Future Times Records, which Petillo runs with fellow electronic producer Andrew Field-Pickering (Maxmillion Dunbar, Beautiful Swimmers).

Protect-U is scheduled to play Select DC’s Vanguard Festival April 12, U Street Music Hall April 24 with Factory Floor, and Comet Ping Pong May 10 with Peaking Lights.