The Dirty Projectors recently played the Metro in Sydney and I was eagerly attending. The band has broad significance in the indie crowd being one of the “IT” bands of 2009 but also great personal significance as an example of the power of music blogs. I first discovered the band mid last year whilst browsing my favorite blog aggregator, and the name caught my eye. My 9-to-5 is audio visual at a large institution in Sydney and one of the various duties is data projector cleaning and maintenance. Naturally, I couldn’t scroll past such an amusing name. Thus my love affair with the band began.
It was a breezy night in early autumn. My friend had a cold and was hiding his puffy face behind an oversized hoodie. His brother had embellished his outfit with a set of recently purchased Lady Gaga headphones. We seamlessly slipped in to the uber trendy Indie crowd. The atmosphere was full of anticipation and the general feeling of hype contrasted sharply to the diluted feel of The Big Pink gig a few days earlier. Rightfully so too as the performance did not disappoint.
Quite simply, Dirty Projectors are a quirky band that has somehow managed to unify the diverse talents and styles of the individual members into a coherent and downright impressive sound. This is some great feat considering the uniqueness of their sound, and of course the quality. Their quirkiness translates effortlessly onto the stage. Frontman Dave Longstreth sashays around the stage with pigeon-like neck movements as he thrusts and jives along to the groove of his frantic and deadly accurate top string melodies. Jive and groove are appropriate terms to use as the Projectors’ songs, particularly the slower, percussion driven tracks, definitely have a distinct soulful feel to them that infects the hips. Their upbeat tracks are often relentless and energising and remind us that, although a tres cool Indie band, this is still rock ‘n’ roll. Longstreth is not alone in accomplished musical dexterity. The 6-piece band is well balanced but front-lady pair Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian standout technically and melodically as their intertwining vocal harmonies are a key feature of the band’s sound . Of particular note is Amber’s guitar skill which compliments Longstreth’s style perfectly. The Frontman matches Coffman’s soprano bursts with his own accomplished vocal delivery and confident falsetto, all whilst his fingertips simultaneously dance along the fretboard.
The highlights of the performance were the duet between Longstreth and Deradoorian on Two Doves and the encore performance of Cannibal resource. This was one of the stand-out gigs that I have been to recently. These guys are in their super cool prime so make sure you check them out live if you get the chance. Two samples off Bitte Orca, Dirty Projectors cut from last year, are available below: The aforementioned “Two Doves” and of course “Stillness is the Move”, two standout out tracks from the album.
Happy Music 