The question of ‘what kind of songs does Dave Longstreth make best?’, which had previously been an open one, has finally been resolved. The answer is simple: pop songs. Flirtations with avant-garde R&B on Bitte Orca have been ended, with Dirty Projectors hopefully settling for the conventionally-structured quirky pop found on Swing Lo Magellan. From start to end, the record engulfs the listener in warmth; almost as if it were a film score reflectively soundtracking the embers of a dying summer. Alien-sounding harmonies combine seamlessly with traditional instrumentation to produce a collection of songs that sounds familiar yet compellingly unique. Pulled along to unprecedented levels of joy by the sheer sense of fun and self-aware humour present, on ‘Unto Caesar’ singers Amber Coffman and Haley Dekle mock one of Longstreth’s more obfuscated lyrics as he croons “Down the line/Dead the martyr’s morbid poetry”. Like a record you’ve been fondly acquainted with for years, yet somehow being like nothing you’ve ever heard before, Swing Lo Magellan ties together a vividly beautiful journey of the irrepressibly human themes of love, anxiety and elation.
Rishi Modha 