After the release of their 2009 break-out album, Bitte Orca, the band, Dirty Projectors, became synonymous with layered, conceptual indie rock.
Thus far in their over-a-decade career, Dirty Projectors and David Longstreth - the bandleader and primary songwriter - haven’t done the same thing twice. Their most recent album, Swing Lo Magellan, was released last year by Domino - “It’s an album of songs, an album of songwriting,” says Longstreth. Previous albums have been conceptual - from 2005’s The Getty Address, an album about musician Don Henley, to the 2007 album Rise Above, which is all Black Flag songs as re-imagined from memory, to Mount Wittenberg Orca, an EP the band did with Bjork with songs about and sung to a pod of whales - but Swing Lo Magellan is a collection of songs on a record - not tied to one idea or story.
Dirty Projectors are playing a handful of shows in the WAMC listening area in the coming weeks. This Saturday, April 13th, they’ll be at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY, on Monday, April 15th they’ll play Pearl Street in Northampton, MA, and on Thursday, April 18th they'll be at Higher Ground in Burlington, VT.
