Rise Above

The Dirty Projectors - Rise Above
Weird, vocal-centric, indie pop/rock. Somewhat in vein of Animal Collective, Fiery Furnaces, Danielson, and even Sufjan Stevens. Unique vocals very prominent in songs. Lead is male, backed by a collective of females. Many times songs have lead calling and female responding. Male vocals a bit reminiscent of TV on the Radio, but singing higher notes to much different beats. He drags out a lot of the words letting his voice run up and down the scale. Female vocals a lot of times are looping in the background. Music in general really hits like a wave - a jarring crash of vocals and instruments, some turmoil, and then calm before another sonic wave. Apparently this album is a "reimagining" of Black Flag's 1981 punk rock album "Damaged". As a result as the often story-time-like instrumentation and vocals immensely clash with the song names ("Depression", "Thirsty and Miserable") and lyrics ("I wish I was dead", "This fucking city is run by pigs"). This clash definitely makes the album interesting, but that doesn't mean it is a pleasant listen (especially the first time). For the most part the songs get a bit less weird as album progresses. Picks: 10, 6(FCC), 2, 1 FCC: 3, 4, 6

1 - Funky opening beat. Male/female vocal interplay. "I wanna live... I wish I was dead". Flute interlude ~2min. Guitar enters, drives the song to a strong finish.
2 - Violin intro. Bass, drum beat. Light quick guitar picks. Takes off into stratosphere with lead vocals.
3 - "Fucking" 1:30. A bit of rocking here with electric guitar strums.
4 - Huge shifts in beats in this one. "I know it'll be OK, I get a Six Pack and be alright"
5 - Soothing opening. Fragile. Gets a bit repetitive. Builds to a crash in last 30 sec.
6 - Flute intro... story time?... no. "This fucking city is run by pigs... I walk down the street, I flick them off, they hit me across the head... I tell them to go get fucked..."
7 - Guitar opening sets a happy, sunny day mood until jarring crash... alternating speaker female “ohs” backdrop a very pleasant middle of song
8 - slow, quiet start, picks up at 1:30
9 - slow‚ breaks out with electric guitar with 2 min left, ends w/ scratchy old cinema bit
10 - title track. strong drum beat. In contrast to rest of cd: more dynamic guitar, actually got my head nodding, upbeat message "rise above" slows 3min in only to come back.
11 - 2:40 of silence, then some violin
-Kyle Macomber