HIGH TEMECULA SUNRISE

Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca



David Longstreth & co’s oeuvre of lavishly intricate long-players, knee-deep in harmonised detail, tropical rhythm sensibility, discordance and densely plotted malformations weren’t always met with the tizzy glee they may have anticipated. Often critics cast aside the DADA-esque modern compositions as wasteful, throwaway avant rock, overlooking Longstreth’s densely realised directions.

2007’s Rise Above, a re-imagining of dusty Black Flag mantras saw the Brooklyn six casting commercial light on their manifesto. Magazines, scenes, blogs and composition nodes started hyperbole-ing the nuts off the troupe, and words were gorged.

To use one of 2009’s more prophetic soundbites however, This is it. Bitte Orca represents the moment when Longstreth’s far-reaching stream-of-consciousness visions collide with his inclination towards traditional arrangement strictures, his infatuation with chart r’n’b and the heart murmuring, bombastical mettle of the female voice.

Opener Cannibal Resource is a fantastically grounded statement of intent: Schizo Axe-jabs are tempered by playful barber-quartet harmonising and perverse vocal interjections from the wonderfully versatile Amber Coffman. Rhythms come and go as they please but never feel particularly out-of-place, representing a significant shift in gear for the band.

Typically wistful pieces sift sharply in and out of focus until Stillness is the Move raises its pumping, outlandish head. Synthesized thumps and string trills land either side of Coffman’s Aaliyah-esque vibrato, cascading off the centre point like water hitting a rock. Those willing to commit to this record, listening attentively to the plotted nuances and playful disruptions are likely to be rewarded. The song’s three-part repetitions are met at the end with a lavish, warming string arrangement. Coffman’s improvised melodicism revives Clare Torry’s soul-searching five minute meanderings in The Great Gig in the Sky.

Midway in and emotionally raw, tempered accessibility is the name of the game. Two Doves is the clearest pop song they’ve written, both thematically and structurally. Shimmering acoustic arpeggios are set against Angel Deradoorian’s deeply earnest love-ramblings. A shift in tempo, and singer, is called upon with Useful Chamber, the record’s most recognisable shape shifter. ‘She is anticipating on it, magic and old invention’ Longstreth muses with typically Byrne-esque ambiguity, as if alluring to a happier, mystical bygone-era.

Bitte Orca’s discernable confidence walks hand in hand with the band’s newfound comfort zone. It’s not that they are sticking to a sound and lazily wallowing about in it though. Orca offers a sound that seems to both curb Longstreth’s urges to pulp song structures into oblivion, and imbibe fresh ideas that they may have been afraid to explore before. Let’s just hope the next outing sounds just as fresh and unlike anything they’ve stumbled upon before, and I’m sure it will…