Dirty Projectors

Young Dave Longstreth, who calls himself the Dirty Projectors, has added yet another new notch on his increasingly prolific belt with this 30-minute, seven-song EP. New Attitude hints at a funky new direction for the challenging experimental indie songwriter, but this hardly means crooning about love and popping bass lines. Rather, Longstreth draws a page from the likes of Van Dyke Parks and David Byrne by incorporating rhythms and tendencies from South America and Africa into his hodgepodge of sound arrangement, a fusion that’s most incredibly well realised on "Two Young Sheeps,” which culminates with a throat-ripping call-and-response section. Longstreth’s vocal delivery is just as choked and strangulated as ever, but now he’s got a Prince-like charm behind it when he wants to, like on the strangely funky "Fucked for Life.” It’s almost as though he has come to master his previously meticulous approach to crafting song-cycles, and wants to stretch out a bit, get loose, and explore some new directions. If the results are going to remain as interesting and original as those found on New Attitude, he should keep on exploring anything he damned well pleases.