The band’s newest LP to their seven strong catalogue stays within the bounds of their bizarre and honed experimental sound. Squiggly guitar licks spring in and out of the mix, while Dirty Projectors orchestrator Dave Longstreth’s yelping, quivering voice leads the charge in conjunction with a duo of angelic female singers forming the formidable Swing Lo Magellan vocals. Opener “Offspring are Blank” cruises in on a harmony of hums, handclaps, and coos while Longstreth croons slowly for a minute, quickly cascading into a cacophony of drums and fiercely strummed guitars that recedes within moments. A blooping beat accompanies track 2 “About to Die” as lyrics contemplate a life wasted, “Your life must surely end must surely be ending, and trembling, you realize you never lived a day at all, and it’s all your fault.”
The title
track is a breezy and brief account of a journey through mystical regions, with
a pretty acoustic guitar strumming alongside. A theme throughout this album is
a search for answers whose questions themselves are often unknown. “There is an
answer, I haven’t found it, but I will keep dancing until I do, I boogie down gargoyle
streets, searching in every face for something I could believe,” sings
Longstreth on “Dance For You.”
The band
is well known for complex and difficult music, which was tweaked spectacularly
in 2009’s Bitte Orca to reveal a more
friendly side of the band. This album takes it a step further, and the
whirlwind duo of “Impregnable Question” and “See What She Seeing” reveals the
band at its most human and vulnerable state. On the former, Longstreth assures
a lover that petty differences will not disrupt their feelings. “Whether there
is or isn’t any position you care if I take or I don’t I will always hold what
we shared so long, to be the only love and though we don’t see eye to the eye I
need you, and you’re always on my mind.” On “See What She Seeing” a sliding
guitar hook backed by a tribal beat form the musical foundation for a plea for
the perfect and completely impossible girl, begging “Lonely and forgotten in
the frozen world, scorned in my desire, ignored by all the girls, I need
someone to comfort me, So onward through the murk and the uncertainty, sifting
through the days patient and carefully, always to get to where she is.” The song
develops from a desperate tone to moderately optimistic before exploding in
joyous rapture leading the listener to believe that just maybe he finally found
the girl who he so desires.
Amber
Hoffman puts in a delightful performance on the following track, “The Socialites.”
A rapidly plucked melody hovers above her delicate and emotional voice as she
compares herself to the elite and beautiful. The song concludes with a
declaration of sanity and a cynical query about her soul “I’m glad they’re the
ones on the other side of the glass, who knows what my spirit is worth in cold hard
cash?” Rounding out the album, “Unto Ceaser” and “Irresponsible Tune” take
stock of the world and find it lacking, only surviving on the love of music and
songs in the heart. A proper end to a 12-track effort that exudes heartfelt
pain and love throughout, both through the intimate lyrics and the jaunty music
that bounds along contentedly. While not as intricate as previous albums, the
gradual shift towards more open and accessible sounds suits the Dirty
Projectors as they shine on Swing Lo
Magellan.
