When it comes to describing the Dirty Projectors, almost any adjective will do. From distortions to folksy guitar, the band’s musical evolution is unpredictable.
Diversions staff writer Elizabeth Byrum chatted with singer, songwriter and guitarist Dave Longstreth about the band’s upcoming Duke performance and the sisterhood of the most recent albums.
Diversions: For your upcoming show, will the set list pull more from Mount Wittenberg Orca or from Bitte Orca?
Dave Longstreth: A mixture of both. We are doing about half of the Wittenberg stuff. A lot of it really is about (Björk), so we can’t do it, but the ones that she’s not involved in, we are definitely playing. They fit really well into the Bitte stuff, and I feel like they are sisters in some way, the two albums —the two Orcas.
Dive: You’ve mentioned that on Bitte Orca, the music was more about colors and their interaction. What does this entail and how does the album represent this?
DL: Tones, feelings and warmth that come from harmonies. Not literal orange, yellow, fuchsia, but just musical colors. It’s way more about different layers interacting with one another as opposed to melodies or something like that. But I don’t know, it might have sort of been in the context of the other conversation that it was taken from. Standing on its own, the album isn’t just about harmonic color. It’s about a lot of stuff.
Dive: Most recently, you’ve done collaborations with Björk and David Byrne. Is there anyone else on your future checklist?
DL: I don’t know. Both of these collaborations just sort of fell into the proverbial route. They were kind of orchestrated by mutual friends and they were really, really great experiences. Man, it was incredible to make Mount Wittenberg with Björk and work toward some of the goals she and I share in terms of where the music is going. I don’t have a checklist of people I’m trying to work with.
Dive: Are you working on anything new?
