Dirty Projectors, the New York crew led by Dave Longstreth, have announced the release of their sixth album Swing Lo Magellan. The follow-up to 2009’s much-loved Bitte Orca and 2010’s collaborative mini-album with Bjork Mt. Wittenberg Orca, it’s set to be released through Domino on July 9th.
The new album was recorded across a twelve month period during which the band were constantly writing and recording – apparently its final twelve tracks were selected from over forty new demos written and recorded by the group. It also marks a slight shift in personnel – vocalist Angel Deradoorian is currently on hiatus from the band, so the current line-up is made up of Longstreth, Amber Coffman (vocals, guitar), Brian McOmber (drums), Haley Dekle (vocals) and Nat Baldwin (bass). You can listen to a track from the album, ‘Gun Has No Trigger’, below.
“It’s an album of songs, an album of songwriting,” said Longstreth of the record, fairly ambiguously. We’ve been given little clue as to how it’s likely to sound in full, beyond vague suggestions that it’s going to be quite a straightforward, back-to-basics record. First impressions suggest clear similarities to their older material – the group’s multilayered vocal harmonies remain present and correct – though the spidery, angular guitars of earlier releases are conspicuously absent from this track at least.
Swing Lo Magellan‘s tracklist runs as follows:
‘Offspring Are Blank’
‘About to Die’
‘Gun Has No Trigger’
‘Swing Lo Magellan’
‘Just From Chevron’
‘Dance For You’
‘Maybe That Was It’
‘Impregnable Question’
‘See What She Seeing’
‘The Socialites’
‘Unto Caesar’
‘Irresponsible Tune’
