Arty Brooklyn-band, The Dirty Projectors, twist electronica into the complex, curious, and catchy album, Bitte Orca.
Every boat needs an anchor for stability, just as it needs a sail for guidance. On the USS Dirty Projectors, that anchor has been Jeff Buckley–style wailer David Longstreth, who formed the Brooklyn-based band in 2003 and has been its sole constant component. With Bitte Orca, Dirty Projectors’ fifth full-length, Longstreth has found a sail to push him into much murkier, and even ’80s-meets-’90s dance-inspired, waters, with four principal members and a new complexity in sound. Free-jazz guitar and hot downbeats twist the melodies throughout, as Longstreth and his crew hauntingly croon, chant, and cry against the tune. New female vocals add fullness to the string-laden anti-love song “Two Doves” and then funk things up before they get too saccharine on the amazing dance groove, “Stillness Is the Move.” This ship may turn out to be a party boat after all! Bottom line is, with Bitte Orca Dirty Projectors will be going far.