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CRITIC REVIEWS
94
Dirty Projectors is back with a reshaped identity, serving up experimental/artistic indie-pop while retaining its penchant for eclecticism and unpredictability.
91
After spending recent years behind the scenes ... he’s applied some of his musical tourism to Dirty Projectors to convey a batch of hyper-specific lyrics through an often-thrilling blend of electronica, prog-rock, Afro-beat, R&B, and pop.
90
Reduced to his own devices, our gentleman hero has crafted both the most intrinsically soulful, emotional, and heartfelt record of his career. No less, he's delivered on one of music's greatest archetypes – and with aplomb.
90
Though “Dirty Projectors” maintains the same off-beat music style as previous albums, there is a quality to this album that makes it hauntingly beautiful and dark.
90
Dirty Projectors may be a breakup record, and one with its fair share of petty sniping ... but, cathartic and redemptive, it’s one worth getting to know.
90
At times, Dirty Projectors recalls the polyphonic adventurism of Bon Iver’s 22, A Million and Sufjan Stevens’ The Age Of Adz. Like those records, it takes conventional songs and plants bombs beneath them, but Longstreth’s immersion is more brazen.
83
Heartbreak can be overwhelming, inspiring, and exhausting, and with Dirty Projectors, Longstreth has birthed an album that strives to not only reflect that, but to mimic it, too.
80
At times, its unflinchingly honest exploration of post-breakup stages and head spaces is difficult listening. But this is also its biggest strength, as Longstreth’s lyrics take the listener through bitterness, anger, melancholy, self-pity and remorse.
80
It affords listeners the space to grapple with the loss of Dirty Projectors in their previous form, while dispensing enough nurturing, boundary-breaking tonic to ensure that the first run-out for the project's next chapter is shrouded in optimism rather than dissolution, unforeseen obstacles and all.
80
For the most part ... this is work of emotional and musical maturity: sad, complex and sometimes profound.
80
Complex layered production and funky beats jump off in different directions mixing autotune with tracked voices, everything zeroing back in on the trauma of love lost and love obliterated.
80
The broken-hearted Longstreth sounds like a changed man in many respects, but he's no less talented and visionary than he was before, and Dirty Projectors demonstrates that musically and lyrically, love and its absence have taught him a thing or two.
80
The record works not because it feels cynical, but because beneath the obvious lyrical headlines, you can sense Longstreth’s genuine enthusiasm for the new forms he’s exploring so vigorously.
80
Longstreth may be lonely, but he isn't alone, and his collaborators push him to new heights.
80
Over lush, sprawling production, Longstreth meticulously crafts a starkly honest account of a fall from grace and a rise back into it that embraces growth and forgiveness.
78
In what is ostensibly a solo record with a few high-profile collaborations, Dave Longstreth masterfully peels away layer after layer of heartbreak across a strange, dizzying pop album.
75
As a solo project, Dirty Projectors works well. As significant of a shift as this album is from past Dirty Projectors’ records, the detailed production and arranging work shows Longstreth put all of himself into making it.
75
Whilst self-titling the record helps bring the project back into relevance after a long hiatus, it also seems to affirm its own identity after its own loss; the record features neither Coffman nor Angel Deradoorian, but it is still a Dirty Projectors record.
73
It’s a lush, sometimes confounding post-pop experiment that comes without the other key players that served alongside him over the last decade.
70
Voyeuristic as it is, Dirty Projectors truly does feel like a record he had to make, not to mention one that's well worth our attention.
70
Dirty Projectors return with an entirely revamped sound.
60
Only occasionally ... does Longstreth’s wonderful musical inventiveness distract sufficiently from the distinctly unbecoming, angry and chiding atmosphere of ‘Dirty Projectors’.
60
What Longstreth attempts to pass as daring, confessional experimentation often veers closer to self-indulgence, however, and too often he comes across as an unsympathetic character in his own narrative.
58
I dunno, I hope Longstreth is happy and hope this album is something he needed to get out of his system before he goes back to making good music again. But on the basis of this, and on Animal Collective’s last album, there may simply not be many promising places left to go in this direction, not that I have any better suggestions.
57
The songs do feel new, untested, sharply divorced from previous iterations of the band. Gone is the tuneful swirl of female vocals that made the Bitte Orca-era songs sound so delirious and vibrant.
50
Dirty Projectors mainly functions as just that: a snapshot of an artist as viewed from the outside, struggling to create something that applies to anybody but himself.
50
We can only assume that there’s a deep meaning within the songs’ hall-of-mirrors approach to songwriting, but Dirty Projectors ultimately leaves one too puzzled to empathize with apart from letting out a false, mouth-gaping awe.
40
David Longstreth’s account of his separation from former bandmate Amber Coffman told through a welter of autotuned, over-treated vocals and jumble of clashing sounds that, to be generous, may be intended as an analogue of the ground shifting beneath their disintegrating relationship.
Up In Hudson is song of the year.
Most people wont like this because its not an easy listen, while also missing that which makes Dirty Projectors what they are - Amber. Despite the missing in harmony and passion, Dave has shown is musical genius in his technical ability to produce emotional and cloudy clear representation of his emotions in a heartbreak. This album is truly spectacular first few listens, with Keep Your Name, Up in Hudson, and Cool Your Heart being up there for SOTY. It does ... read more
Most people wont like this because its not an easy listen, while also missing that which makes Dirty Projectors what they are - Amber. Despite the missing in harmony and passion, Dave has shown is musical genius in his technical ability to produce emotional and cloudy clear representation of his emotions in a heartbreak. This album is truly spectacular first few listens, with Keep Your Name, Up in Hudson, and Cool Your Heart being up there for SOTY. It does ... read more
After the mildly interesting Swing Lo Magellan, the eccentric indie-rockers Dirty Projectors are back with what might be their most experimental effort to date. The first thing to notice here is that there a lot less vocal harmonies than what we may be used to hear from the band. Second, what the listener will get in this self-titled album is an amalgam of oddball indie-rock/pop tunes that blend all of the Dirty Projectors' many facets into amorphous compositions, this time relying much more on ... read more
Dirty Projectors is back with a very good album, live up to his expectations.
It mixes the experimental/indie/art pop universe that the band has built, electronic effects (glitch), and R&B interpretations (like Death Spiral) that sometimes sound like some of James Blake's songs. It gives an innovative and futuristic character to the album.
Dirty Projectors LP transcends pop music, especially Little Bubble, strange and of rare beauty, which sublimates the album.
Nevertheless, the songs ... read more
It mixes the experimental/indie/art pop universe that the band has built, electronic effects (glitch), and R&B interpretations (like Death Spiral) that sometimes sound like some of James Blake's songs. It gives an innovative and futuristic character to the album.
Dirty Projectors LP transcends pop music, especially Little Bubble, strange and of rare beauty, which sublimates the album.
Nevertheless, the songs ... read more
I like this a lot. The glitchy, clunky, electronic change of pace instrumentally is really nicely executed in my opinion, creates for a very engaging listen. Since I didn't listen to any of the singles, I got to take this album in as a wholistic piece which I actually think added to the album a lot.
Lyrically, it's essentially a break-up album, but not necessarily in the traditional sense, it actually reminds me a little bit of Beyonce's Lemonade given just how personal and confessional a lot ... read more
Lyrically, it's essentially a break-up album, but not necessarily in the traditional sense, it actually reminds me a little bit of Beyonce's Lemonade given just how personal and confessional a lot ... read more
I think this is Dirty Projectors' King of Limbs. People aren't going to like this thing until a couple years later - me included.
The production is top-notch, the songwriting is top-notch, and the variety is top-notch. Yet, though the amount of ambition is greatly respected, the bulk of it is difficult to digest. The World-music-esque stylings on here (Death Spiral/Work Together) are tough to swallow, and are very dissonant, especially when keeping the lyrics in mind. It definitely reminds me ... read more
The production is top-notch, the songwriting is top-notch, and the variety is top-notch. Yet, though the amount of ambition is greatly respected, the bulk of it is difficult to digest. The World-music-esque stylings on here (Death Spiral/Work Together) are tough to swallow, and are very dissonant, especially when keeping the lyrics in mind. It definitely reminds me ... read more
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MISC LISTS
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More Lists
Track List
- Keep Your Name
- Death Spiral
- Up In Hudson
- Work Together
- Little Bubble
- Winner Take Nothing
- Ascent Through Clouds
- Cool Your Heart
- I See You
- Little Bubble
By davidmerkle
In Library (44)
Added on: January 18, 2017
