[Dirty Projectors in the park – by thepiratehat]

Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is The Move

I’m finally getting used to the weather here- the unusual is the routine.  Today, it’s cold, cold rain- everything is slow- trains, buses, lines, money, etc.  Two days ago, it was warm and sunny in Brooklyn, and I was running errands, in t-shirt, borough to borough (park to park, Central Park north in Harlem and Prospect Park in Park Slope) enjoying the sweetness and soulfulness of Bitter Orca (not every song stood out/there were two or three tracks I skipped over, but nonetheless the album has some very good moments)

The groove on “Stillness” is easy (because the musicians  involved are comfortable and talented) and the voices are almost restless, transient and sugary, echoing the best of Mariah, Christina, Ashanti,  etc– while maintaining Dave Longstreth’s signature and timing. Longstreth has a distinctive style and voice, which I’m not going to attempt to describe here.

Dirty Projectors managed to deconstruct and reinterpret sugary teen-pop R&B as something inoffensive, harmless and nice,* the same way Vampire Weekend reimagined Kanda Bongo Man/Kwassa Kwassa/Koffi Olomide into “Cape Code Kwassa Kwassa.” It’s a little strange, but you can still listen to it while walking in the park and sipping lemonade.

*Let’s face it, Mariah Carey has some of the most abhorrent pop songs-  aside from the remix joints she did w/ ODB and LOX and, of course, that Bone Thugs collaboration.