Dirty Projectors easily fall into the category of bands that induce divisiveness. That is, you will likely respond to their music with horror or admiration. Musically, they seem to thrive on unconventionality. Actually, they built a house in it and live there year ‘round. Though unconventionality certainly doesn’t guarantee quality, it does cause me to turn my head and listen. And when after listening to an album several times still leaves me guessing as to what the big deal is, I have to listen to it even more. Such is the case with Dirty Projectors Bitte Orca.Many of Dirty Projectors songs and arrangements can be characterized as “disjointed pop.” Verses and choruses still exist, but in a world of odd time signatures, broken or twisted middles and endings, strange melodies, and completely unpredictable guitar playing. I would love to see “Temecula Sunrise” written out on paper just to see how bizarre it looks. Yet in this seemingly erratic landscape, there is a clear sensation of composition; everything is where it’s supposed to be. The guitar solo in “Temecula Sunrise” is peculiar in the least, yet sounds totally calculated. Singing duties are traded off between guitarist Dave Longstreth and his female compatriots throughout the album, with the ladies providing extensive harmonies behind Longstreth’s eccentric yelp.
It should be no surprise, then, that a band that enjoys rewriting the rules of popular song structure chose a sassy R&B love song as its first single, “Stillness is the Move”. Sure, why not? And it’s a great song! Middle track “Useful Chamber” is the epic, multipart centerpiece of the album, Longstreth shouting “Bitte Orca, Orca, Orca Bitte!” as the chorus. Ten minutes of internetting doesn’t help me figure out what he’s carrying on about, but I have no doubt that Longstreth is okay with the listener coming up with his own meaning. A flying killer whale? A line from a Greek tragedy? Whatever you want!
Actually, the most fun about this album is probably that quality exactly: it’s so non-linear and so amorphous that you have to make up your own meaning, have to approach it in your own particular idiom. Inexplicably, I find myself reacting rather optimistically to the whole affair. “No Intention” has me wanting to lie on a grass field and stare up adoringly at the sky for a reason I cannot discern.
So, in the end, I think this is an album of sheer creative energy that begs to be interpreted, and misinterpreted, and is ultimately best experienced as is without any pretensions. It’s ironic that such a “pretentious” sounding band can have such the opposite effect on me.
