The Dirty Projectors
The Getty Address

Now everybody likes the Dirty Projectors.

"Bitte Orca," album of the year 2009 on many specialized magazines, is praised as a genius in blending genres, stories are told, and influences of excellent musicians are recounted, and people love to speak highly of it. I think differently and summarize in two subjective points (therefore debatable):
1. "Bitte Orca" is not the best album by the Dirty Projectors, while "The Getty Address" is.
2. The entire discography of Mr. Longstreth barely, just barely, surpasses adequacy and has little or nothing to deserve being worshiped in the field.
Opinions divide, they provoke thought, and I don't want to position myself as gratuitously antithetical, nor do I want to convince anyone to disparage the young singer-songwriter, but I just try to give my own auditory interpretation of what I read.

Dave Longstreth does not manage to fuse well the two sides of his musical conception: experimental orchestrations blend with intimate moments, yet they do not enrich each other; instead, they suffer from awkward juxtapositions. I sometimes find the choruses too shrill, and the voice itself has never fully convinced me, the orchestral dissonances have created a certain discomfort heightened by the vocals, and several times I have tried to reevaluate him but without success.
I listened to the CD in the car, in the room, in the lounge, or elsewhere, but I couldn’t find the essence and I tried to justify it anyway: "It's not its environment...", "Maybe I’m too tired and distracted", "I cannot comprehend some solutions at this moment", in short, I was hypercritical towards myself because I read amazing articles from critics and wanted to force myself to like the songs at any cost.
These attempts have also enriched my discography, I bought "Slaves, Graves and Ballads", downloaded "Bitte Orca" and again tried the search for Dave Longstreth’s qualities. Little or nothing at the emotional level, something at the level of insights, zero at the level of pleasantness.

About this album, it is said that it was conceived as a glitch opera, see also the definitions of the label Western Vinyl, or a refined exploration of the indie world and the list goes on; who wouldn't have bought it in lean times?
"I Sit on the Ridge at Dusk" begins the dance with a series of intermittent female choruses, skewed orchestrations, and a limping pace, I feel nothing but wait to formulate judgments rather ready to reevaluate this opening following a (hopefully) astonishing record. "Warholian Wigs" and "I Will Truck" arrive in succession, and itching rises at times: Longstreth’s own shrill and unconvincing voice is supported by melodically appreciable ideas, but also by disturbing arpeggios and off-axis orchestrations.
I go on, it is a concept album based on Don Henley - founder of the Eagles and unforgettable voice of "Hotel California" - so let's wait to judge. Other tracks loom, but the feelings do not change; just when it seems to guess the formula, something goes wrong, and though understanding and appreciating that our Longstreth is an intelligent person who leaves Yale to make music dedicating body and soul to this project, the end of the album comes as a relief.

What deluded me is this precious and cultured aura of the album, every time I approach these notes, I hope it is the right time, but I am regularly disappointed and do not believe anymore that his moment may come in two years. The subsequent "Bitte Orca" I find more accessible but less innovative, while the previous "Slaves Graves And Ballads" remains split into the two souls of our author.
Among the things to save in Longstreth’s production is the courage to unite and innovate, moving from the singer-songwriter form to broken experimentation, and sometimes, for a few moments, the stroke of genius appears, but it vanishes at the first breath of wind and maybe the critics or those who (in good faith) must write and review myriad albums in a few minutes, have perceived these positive cues, embroidering on a genuine hype, but in my view, it is little justified.

Perhaps the anticipated day of reevaluation of these works will come, for now, I stand in opposition to many judgments and hope to reconsider soon, and I will pay for young Dave’s studies at Yale...