Rating: NNNN
Dirty Projectors go for a more conventional pop approach on Swing Low Magellan, but don’t worry, they’re still a million miles away from normal. They’ve traded African pop influences for nods to 60s folk rock, but you’d never mistake it for the current crop of retro rock revivalists. The focus is still the exciting friction between Dave Longstreth’s wistful, wandering vocal melodies and the highly structured harmonies by Amber Coffman and Haley Dekle, grafted over deconstructed impressions of R&B rhythms.
What’s new is how much Longstreth’s songwriting now evokes Paul McCartney’s jazzier moments, albeit with the latter’s schlockier tendencies replaced by ambitious experimentation. The unexpected Beatles influence is also echoed in the hard left/right panning of the instruments and stripped-down (by modern standards) production style. Every element is given space to shine – a nice break from the overproduced bedroom-recording sound that’s become standard in indie rock.
Top track: About To Die
