shop | mailing lists
musicOMH
music: album reviews
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca
(Domino) UK release date: 8 June 2009
4 stars
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

buy this title


track listing

1. Cannibal Resource
2. Temecula Sunrise
3. The Bride
4. Stillness Is The Move
5. Two Doves
6. Useful Chamber
7. No Intention
8. Remade Horizon
9. Fluorescent Half Dome

related
ALBUM:
Dirty Projectors - Bitte Orca

ALBUM:
Dirty Projectors - Rise Against

GIG:
Dirty Projectors @ Scala, London

GIG:
Dirty Projectors @ Forum, London

GIG:
Dirty Projectors @ Dingwalls, London

external
Dirty Projectors


There's quite a long history of geeky (white) Americans taking inspiration from African music and beats, from David Byrne, through Paul Simon, to the present day's Vampire Weekend and Yeasayer. It would be easy, on a superficial listen, to file Dirty Projectors in the same category, but, despite the distinguished company it would be placing them with, that would probably be doing this complex yet compelling album a bit of a disservice.

There are, certainly, several moments that could be loosely termed "afrobeat". The guitar and rhythms found in parts of Temecula Sunrise, Useful Chamber and particularly Remade Horizon (in the call-and-response "Yeah, I wanna" vocal as much as the instrumentation) all fit the bill.

It's just that there is so much more than that going on too. The music is so experimental in feel that on first listen much of it can seem almost arbitrary or random, and difficult to categorise or approach. As one becomes more familiar with the tracks (notably Cannibal Resources, Stillness Is The Move, Two Doves, No Intention, Remade Horizon and Fluorescent Half Dome) their own internal logic and structure begin to reveal themselves, often quite wonderfully. To put it more prosaically, these are all very much "growers".

Part of what really gets under the skin is the way that instruments, voices and beats will burst in to the middle of a song, like unexpected but welcome party crashers, surprising the listener, but never - somehow - jarring. Witness the random drum fills on the otherwise stately and elegiac Fluorescent Half Dome; the way the vocal goes from very high (falsetto) to quite low, and from quiet to much louder, as if a dial was being turned, on The Bride; or the fits and starts of the lead singing in Temecula Sunrise.

Another joy is the range of different musical styles that are encompassed: many little string arrangements dotted throughout the album sound as elegant and stately as a Brahms concerto; but then at the next moment you find the distinctly R&B feel of Stillness Is The Move: an amazing track that can easily be imagined as one of the more "out there" moments from, say, Beyonce or Kellis. Smatterings of funk are also to be found (Cannibal Resource, Useful Chamber), and there's even a distinctly oriental slant, found on No Intention.

A significant proportion of the music sounds like it is being improvised as we listen, but improvised so deftly that one's faith doesn't falter. Even the lyrics (which tend towards the impenetrable, but with a slight, surprisingly conventional bias towards the old failsafe themes of love and sex) seem like they may be being free-formed on Temecula Sunrise.

Perhaps the most straightforward song on the album is the gorgeous Two Doves. One of only two tracks where a female vocal takes the lead, this is (in the context of this album, at any rate) a simple and affecting melody, beautifully delivered, with mainly acoustic guitar and strings as accompaniment.As she sings of the "Geranium kisser / Skin like silk and face like glass" it is difficult not to be moved. Other highlights are the aforementioned Stillness Is The Move, and the long and complex Useful Chamber, which almost serves as a showcase for all the key elements of Dirty Projectors' sound.

As with a lot of the best, and ultimately most satisfying music, then, this is an album that is certainly worthwhile persisting with. Clever, original, complicated, sometimes frustrating but more often revelatory, it will, given time, uncover its manifold delights.

  share: 
Facebook | Digg | del.icio.us | more
Mercury Prize 2009 nominees
FLORENCE AND THE MACHINE SPEECH DEBELLE KASABIAN FRIENDLY FIRES
LA ROUX BAT FOR LASHES THE HORRORS GLASVEGAS
SWEET BILLY PILGRIM THE INVISIBLE LISA HANNIGAN LED BIB

top albums
most read reviews in the last seven days
Biffy Clyro
Biffy Clyro


Julian Casablancas
Julian Casablancas


Martha Wainwright
Martha Wainwright


Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum
recommended reading
GIG REVIEW
Beyoncé brings her alter ego Sasha Fierce - and Jay-Z and Kanye West - to London
ALBUM REVIEWS out this week
tUnE-yArDs, Norah Jones, Will Young, Mariah Carey, Stereophonics
INTERVIEW
Martha Wainwright on her Edith Piaf album Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, a Paris.
more album reviews
out this week:
tUnE-yArDs - BiRd-BrAiNs Norah Jones - The Fall Will Young - The Hits
Ebony Bones - Bone Of My Bones Mariah Carey - Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel Them Crooked Vultures - Them Crooked Vultures
coming soon:
Gabby Young And Other Animals - We're All In This Together Rihanna - Rated R Codeine Velvet Club - Codeine Velvet Club
recent releases:
Shirley Bassey - The Performance Martha Wainwright - Sans Fusils, Ni Souliers, a Paris Biffy Clyro - Only Revolutions
Robbie Williams - Reality Killed The Video Star Pascal Babare - Thunderclap Spring Joe Goddard - Harvest Festival
Jamie Cullum - The Pursuit Nirvana - Live At Reading (Deluxe Edition) Nirvana - Bleach (20th Anniversary Edition)
Julian Casablancas - Phrazes For The Young The Hidden Cameras - Origin: Orphan Weezer - Raditude
Cheryl Cole - Three Words Kings Of Convenience - Declaration Of Dependence Portico Quartet - Isla
The Antlers - Hospice Fuck Buttons - Tarot Sport The Flaming Lips - Embryonic
more album reviews
Twitter


recent interviews and features
Martha Wainwright
Martha Wainwright
INTERVIEW
Gary Numan
Gary Numan
INTERVIEW
Miike Snow
Miike Snow
INTERVIEW
The Big Pink
The Big Pink
INTERVIEW
more interviews

  more album reviews...



musicOMH
about us
contact
copyright
home
elsewhere
Twitter
Facebook
Last.fm
Soundcloud
MySpace
© 1999-2009 OMH