Dirty Projectors - Self-Titled Review
This album is frustrating. I have never had so many different reactions to an album with each listen. I am a fairly big fan of Dirty Projectors, and when Keep Your Name dropped I was practically in love with David Longstreth. Almost everything about the track was perfect to me and I was so hyped for this album. The album is the story of the break-up between David Longstreth and Amber Coffman. Amber Coffman was one of the backup vocalists of the band. I personally love very personal and hard-hitting albums, so I was ready to love this album.
And then I listened to it.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about this album after the first listen. Or second listen. Or third listen. My opinions have never changed so much from listen to listen  with any album before this album. The main issue with this album to me is it felt…awkward. Almost too personal. The lyrics on a lot of these songs feel kind of confrontational. It feels like David angrily wrote a lot of these lyrics minutes after the breakup. He puts himself on a pedestal and comes off as pretentious.
‘What I want from art is truth, what you want is fame’
‘Your heart is saying clothing line my body said Naomi Klein’
‘Feeling like I’m sipping on some Rene Descartes and you’re Big Gulping the Bible’
It just feels malicious to an extent and almost too personal.
But the music is so good.
I can’t stress how amazing of an experience listening to this album is. The production is flawless. I have never heard an album that sounds like this. It’s like a really well put together fusion of everything that makes Dirty Projectors and R&B great.Â
The album opens with Keep Your Name which starts with these warped church bells and these incredible down-pitched vocals. The song definitely sets the tone for the direction the rest of the album is taking with this really well done rap in the bridge.
Right after it is my least favorite song on the album, Death Spiral. It opens up with these really good strings but is bogged down by a generic vocal melody and average percussion.Â
The album is quickly redeemed though by the song Up In Hudson which has these amazing horns throughout the track and an infectious chorus. The only negative thing I really have to say about the track is the fact he used the word SMS in a track. It’s a dumb gripe but I can’t help but cringe every time I listen to it and it gets to that part.
Work Together is next and has a really, really well done chorus and is overall just a really solid and interesting track.
Work Together would have more of an impact if it wasn’t followed by the incredible Little Bubble. This conveys emotion better than any other track on this record. There are these beautiful strings that run through it and a beautiful piano melody played in the chorus. It’s just really, really good.
Unfortunately the momentum of the album is ruined by Winner Take Nothing which is the most forgettable track on the album by far. The vocals are just average compared to the rest of the album. It’s not necessarily a bad track but it doesn’t have room to breathe in my opinion. It’s sandwiched between the best track on the album and the best song streak and the chorus is just forgettable. I can see how people would like this track but to me it just feels like he recorded it because he needed another track. It’d be a great B-side.
But Ascent Through Clouds, Cool Your Heart, and I See You hit consecutively and close the album in such a beautiful way. Ascent Through Clouds has this amazing groove running throughout the track and this really cool bridge departure, and Cool Your Heart is just a catchy song. The beat warps and rewinds constantly and Dawn absolutely makes the track as good as it is.Â
I See You isn’t as good as the other songs while listened to separately, but in the context of the album it is one of the best tracks. It has a gospel feel to it and swells up and ends abruptly in this beautiful way.Â
I love this album. The lyrical content bothers me but the music is just so good.
8.5/10
Best tracks: Up In Hudson, Little Bubble, Ascent Through Clouds
Worst Tracks: Death Spiral, Winner Take Nothing
– written by G. D.Â
