The chief problem I have always had with Dirty Projectors is that their records are hard to listen to. True, they’re not as difficult to listen to as Berlin by Lou Reed, or Metal Machine Music by the same. The first album is notoriously depressing; the second is just white noise. Dirty Projectors are neither of these things; their problem is simply that they’re too clever for their own sake.
In the same way that you wouldn’t use ‘Ulysses’ as bedtime reading, it’s very difficult to enjoy albums like Bitte Orca and Mount Wittenberg Orca (the obsession with Orcas is inexplicable and worrying) without really concentrating on the complexities of the harmonies, melodies and rhythms that Dave Longstreth and band spring upon you. That is both their charm and their downfall.
However, it seems like they have let go of some of their previous musical verbosity. On Swing Lo Magellan, the instrumentation is less choppy and less consciously perverse than before. The guitar sounds are more natural within songs such as ‘Offspring Are Blank’, and the band sound like they’re letting go a bit. Which is nice.
Vocals are less calculated and more genuine sounding. The same goes for backing vocals. The choral-style ‘oo’s on ‘Gun Has No Trigger’ are a welcome replacement for the complex yelping apparent on past offerings, such as ‘Cannibal Resource’.
However, rhythm can still be a sticking point. Occasionally the rhythm feels like something a particularly precocious music student may write to confound a band rather than something that anyone would actually want to play. However, these moments are in the minority. Swing Lo Magellan has become slightly more laid-back, taking on folk influences here and there (see the title track for the best use of this effect) to create a somewhat mystifying experience.
Art rock tends to work best when the high concept is subordinate to the music; when the band or artist just lets themselves have some fun. Dirty Projectors have edged closer to this ideal, but refuse to give up their edgier, more obtuse characteristics. This refusal seems to be the foundation of the band’s identity.
FOUR STARS
