Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 08/06/09
Label: Domino

In a year that has seen a pack of Brooklyn's avant-garde rising from obtuse outsiders to critically adored sensations, it seems fair to say that few would have expected such celebrated turns from the likes of Animal Collective, Gang Gang Dance and various other members of the New York borough's unhinged music scene 12 months ago. But with Dirty Projectors, an act that manage to combine sweet R&B licks with fractious new wave, Prince's grandiose future-funk with frenetic highlife hooks, it's a trajectory on which they have been working for some time, towards a honed pop masterpiece.

Though their visionary lynchpin Dave Longstreth has decided not to delve into one of his trademark conceptual releases, "Bitte Orca" feels like a continuation of ideas they've been working with for quite a while, rather than some awkward tailoring to suit chart ambitions, with Dave Longsteth's clipped wail as infectious as ever even when running through lines on "Temecula Sunshine" about car dealerships and nothing hitting the spot like a bottle of Gatorade. As you may well have gathered, Dirty Projectors revel in being surreal.

"Rise Above", from 2007, found the charismatic Longstreth rekindling the Black Flag affections of his youth by re-envisioning the hardcore brutes' 1981 classic "Damaged" after finding an empty cassette case of the record at his parents' home. In place of Henry Rollins' militant call was Longstreth's unique whimsy wail backed by a delicate yet fractious staccato rhythms. But however set adrift, Dirty Projectors always seemed to be struggling to escape the shadow of the material they were reworking.

But "Bitte Orca" stands out as a record gloriously removed from anything else. Having ditched the orchestral emphasis and formed a solid quartet rather than Longstreth's previous habit of assembling vast numbers for recording duties (with a previous roster that included a young Ezra Koenig, now of Vampire Weekend fame), many of "Bitte Orca"'s finest moments come from lead vocal duties being lent to Amber Coffman, particularly on "Stillness Is A Move", the sort of unlikely magnetic marriage of sound you'd expect from a collaboration between Mariah Carey and David Byrne.

Having recently recorded with Byrne, Longstreth's closest comparison would probably be with the Talking Heads talisman and his afro-infected new wave. "Bitte Orca" is not an easy ride and you still get the sense Longstreth would always rather end up on a tangent than play it straight, but this provides the record with its otherworldliness, a colossal release from unlikely pop pretenders.

    by Samuel Strang