Dirty Projectors and David Byrne - Knotty Pine (4AD)
5/5
By: Thomas Hannan
I'm struggling to start this article because I can't stop my hands clapping in appreciation like some kind of particularly appreciative seal. Well done, David Byrne! Well done, Dirty Projectors! Well done, Red Hot, the AIDS research charity whose compilation Dark Was The Night (pictured) brings the two together! Bloody lovely.
On his blog, Byrne said of Dirty Projectors that their music "often sounds like pop music by someone who has read about the form, but never heard it, and (was) then handed the essential building blocks to make some songs." He was trying to be complimentary, but otherwise, it describes Dirty Projectors' songwriting process rather well. Using some lyrics that date back to (but weren't used in) the earliest days of Byrne's Talking Heads, together they've created quite a remarkable thing. It's the first Dirty Projectors pop song. The first song David Byrne's been involved with in ages that justifies his continued position as a legend. The latest suggestion that Dirty Projectors are able to challenge Animal Collective for the title of best band in the world at the minute. They might even win.
'Knotty Pine' is under two and a half minutes long but it contains about the same amount of ideas as Plato's Republic. Even though, like all good songs, it's pretty much just A, D and E chords. Lyrically it's totally bizarre (David Byrne can apparently hear photographs...), but there's one hell of a catchy riff, and really rewarding payoffs abound amidst the experimentation. The girls whose multi layered harmonies worked so well on previous, stunning LP Rise Above take the vocals on the first part, and the Davids Byrne and Longstreth step up for the second. Who'd have thought that Byrne and Longstreth's voices, both such individualistic sounds, would work so well together? But boy, do they. Oh, and when all the boys and girls sing at the same time, God gives Jesus a high five.
It almost sounds like a demo, it's so uncomplicated in terms of instrumentation, utterly the opposite of over-thought but definitely not stupid. Something's happened in Dave Longsreth's life. Maybe he's spent some time making love in a meadow whilst being gently licked by a deer, but this is some happy happy music. He's not the same man who made The Getty Address, let alone Rise Above.
Dirty Projectors haven't complicated things, so why should I? Let me just finish by saying it's easily the best thing I've heard in ages, I'm completely giddy and carried away with it, and you should stop what you're doing and hear it. Done.
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