Dirty Projectors: Self-Titled ALBUM REVIEW

Dirty Projectors is a long-running experimental rock project, main-brained by multi-instrumentalist and all-around musical weirdo, David Longstreth. The project has been around since the early 2000's, and while it started as a solo project, it eventually came into being one of the more experimental and odd rock projects of the decade, the then band fused tight vocal harmonies with sporadic, often dizzying guitar leads and rhythms for a sound that was truly unique, especially for its time. And while I did review, and enjoy the band's previous LP, Swing Lo Magellan, I have to admit that some of the weirdness and oddity to the band's sound was drifting away. And that feeling was cemented when only a few months later, the band did a cover of an Usher song for what U.K. radio show. The song in question, "Climax" is perhaps my favorite Usher song, a song about a relationship reaching its "climax" and the feelings of being torn apart emotionally as well as physically. The band did a respectable job, but it would seem that it became a self fulfilling prophecy in a way, as not only the sound of the music on this new self-titled LP pulls from the same sound as Usher was, but the lyrical content and inspiration for the album mirror that of "Climax" rather eerily.

And I wouldn't put it past Longstreth to be perfectly aware of this fact, since he seems like the kind of person who would be into this idea as some sort of tragic poetic statement. But, the back story has the larger impact of Dirty Projectors once again becoming a solo act, as the core members, Longstreth and former singer/ musician Amber Coffman are the subjects of the lyrical content on this album. And if the lyrics are to be taken at face value, the break-up between them was messy, emotional and worth writing an album about. But, is the album good? Well, yes, I'd say it is, but there are some caveats to this new direction.

For one, Longstreth's voice, in all of its strange, sporadic glory, is sometimes too odd to carry these tracks, most of which go for a sort of alternative R&B thing. The track "Keep Your Name" is a good example of this. However, a track like "Death Spiral" proves the opposite, as it is easily the most overtly bombastic and passionate R&B cut on the entire album. "Up In Hudson" is a long, winding track that details the beginning and end of the relationship, backed by beautiful horns and featuring an end that gets pretty hot and heavy instrumentally, culminating in a scattered mess (the perfect musical equivalent to the subject matter).

While there are great moments like the two I just mentioned; unfortunately, there are moments here that just slip into a space where the song itself isn't that interesting ("Little Bubble") or the instrumental is too off-kilter and strange to let the lyrics take center stage ("Work Together"). Still, I'd say the album does at least end strong with "I See You" and the Solange featured "Cool Your Heart" isn't bad either.

So, in the end, I'm feeling a little luke-warm of this record. It isn't bad, and I think this direction could work in the future, provided that Longstreth beef it up a little, but as an album, this new LP is just okay to me.

7.0/10