After about five years of absence, art-rock darling Dirty Projectors are back with a new self-titled album — albeit with a few less members. Dirty Projectors, the band’s first album in nearly five years, finds David Longstreth working alone once again following a split with former bandmate and romantic partner Amber Coffman. Gone are the three-part harmonies and kaleidoscopic guitar pop of Bitte Orca and Swing Lo Magellan; Longstreth opts instead for fractured R&B and soul, employing frequent pitch-shifting, layered vocals and autotune to varying degrees of success. The result is an album that’s fascinating and frustrating in equal measure.
“I don’t know why you abandoned me/ you were my soul and my partner,” Longstreth intones in the first song, “Keep Your Name.” The song sets the stage for the rest of the album — with his relationship firmly in the past, Longstreth is left to ruminate on its remains. The opener’s chorus features a sample of Longstreth’s own previous work: a repurposed lyric from the refrain of Swing Lo Magellan‘s “Impregnable Question”, turning a sweet ode to love into sad disagreement. These risks demonstrate the album’s ambition, but not all of them work so well. In the bridge of “Keep Your Name,” the song accelerates into a frenetic rap that somehow references KISS and Naomi Klein in the same verse. These disruptive elements are all over Dirty Projectors, occasionally making the arrangements feel entropic and cluttered.
“Death Spiral” suffers for similar reasons. The song features a string interlude, piano scales, flamenco guitar flourishes and squelching synths — and that’s just the first 60 seconds. The dizzying arrangement may be intended to capture the terror of a failing relationship, but the sheer overload smothers any coherent melody or narrative.
The album’s best songs dial back Longstreth’s ambitions, allowing the album’s emotional core to shine. Standout track “Up in Hudson” is the most traditional song here: a twisting, horn-led saga that details Longstreth and Coffman’s relationship in autobiographical detail. Longstreth details their first kiss, writing their hit song “Stillness is the Move,” and post-breakup road trips listening to Kanye West along to a sweet, shuffling rhythm. The chorus is oddly celebratory: “And love will burn out/ and love will just fade away,” he sings as horns climax around him. It’s an irresistible melody that makes the near-eight minute song skate by.
“Little Bubble,” the album’s showstopper, is even more hypnotic, offering a floating melody that makes time feel frozen. A brief string suite gives way to dreamy Rhodes piano as Longstreth sings of heartbreak. “Can you still remember our world in the key of love?/ The amount of light that we both know / All the shadow descending from above?” In the chorus, piano scales gently ascend over sawing strings. “We had our own little bubble / for a while,” he sighs. Beautiful and alien, “Little Bubble” makes Longstreth’s idiosyncrasies feel human.
Compared to Magellan’s homespun guitar and handclaps, Dirty Projectors’ virtuosic R&B can certainly feel indulgent. At once confusing and awe-inspiring, Dirty Projectors is the most ambitious breakup record you’ll hear this year.
