Next week, Dirty Projectors will release their highly anticipated Swing Lo Magellan LP. Evidently, mastermind Dave Longstreth and co. are excited. Playing a large selection from the stellar new record, the band's Toronto show -- the second of the tour -- provided an extended trailer that brimmed with nuance and bombast.
Like a high school kid with his first Honda Civic, Dirty Projectors love the low end. For leadoff, "Offspring Are Blank," the six-piece paired deceptively spare drums and a spiritual-evoking hum with a bottom-heavy mix, providing a towering intro that never resorted to simple pounding.
Longstreth has a reputation for blending seemingly disparate elements into compelling concoctions. Case in point, "See What She Seeing" saw him try out a reggae-evoking vocal delivery amidst left-field blip percussion and an angular rhythm. The results were strangely infectious.
While Longstreth is the group's Svengali, singer Amber Coffman is a solid foil, her acrobatic lilt taking the lead on standouts "The Socialites" -- a funhouse-keys highlight -- and Bitte Orca's "Cannibal Resource."
As valuable a role player as a starter, Coffman and her cohorts contributed fantastic harmonies throughout, particularly on "Useful Chamber" and Bond-theme candidate, "The Gun Has No Trigger."
It's a testament to Dirty Projectors' skill and a promising sign for the new effort that a gig so heavily indebted to an as-yet-unreleased -- at least in the legal, non-streaming sense -- record managed to be so consistently captivating.
Like a high school kid with his first Honda Civic, Dirty Projectors love the low end. For leadoff, "Offspring Are Blank," the six-piece paired deceptively spare drums and a spiritual-evoking hum with a bottom-heavy mix, providing a towering intro that never resorted to simple pounding.
Longstreth has a reputation for blending seemingly disparate elements into compelling concoctions. Case in point, "See What She Seeing" saw him try out a reggae-evoking vocal delivery amidst left-field blip percussion and an angular rhythm. The results were strangely infectious.
While Longstreth is the group's Svengali, singer Amber Coffman is a solid foil, her acrobatic lilt taking the lead on standouts "The Socialites" -- a funhouse-keys highlight -- and Bitte Orca's "Cannibal Resource."
As valuable a role player as a starter, Coffman and her cohorts contributed fantastic harmonies throughout, particularly on "Useful Chamber" and Bond-theme candidate, "The Gun Has No Trigger."
It's a testament to Dirty Projectors' skill and a promising sign for the new effort that a gig so heavily indebted to an as-yet-unreleased -- at least in the legal, non-streaming sense -- record managed to be so consistently captivating.
