After All That We’ve Been Through

July 6, 2009

I had, like, three ideas for my next post. I had even started writing one of them. But then Dirty Projectors‘ Bitte Orca came in the mail and kind of took over. I don’t think there has been a more divisive album this year, and it’s easy to see why. At it’s core, Bitte Orca is weird in the truest sense of the word. But it’s been one month since it came out (which, in this age of leaks, is more like six months), so I wanted to take some time and urge those of you who haven’t heard it yet to seek it out, and those of you who wrote it off to give it another chance.

Bitte Orca sits nicely alongside two other great albums from 2009: Animal Collective’s Merriweather Post Pavilion and Grizzly Bear’s Veckatimest. All three are each band’s most accessible record to date, but they are still a little out there. Veckatimest is the most normal of the bunch, but still has its head-scratching moments, like the jarring guitar on “Hold Still.” And even for the all the times Merriweather Post Pavilion gets out of hand, like the middle of “Brother Sport”, it’s basically an album full of love songs. Bitte Orca stands apart, though. Like I said, it’s Dirty Projectors’ most accessible album yet, but that doesn’t mean it’s as easy to crack as their contemporaries’ recent records. The funny thing is, I don’t get the feeling they’re trying to make difficult music. To me, it seems like Dirty Projectors are trying to make pop songs, but because the band themselves are just so genuinely weird, the songs come out all damaged. The album is schizophrenic; some of the songs have such seemingly random changes that it can be disorienting on the first listen. You’re distracted by how crazy each little bit is, rather than what it all sounds like as a whole.

I think there’s something to be said for the immediacy of a song, one that grabs you on the first listen and doesn’t let go. But Bitte Orca has maybe two of those (”Stillness Is the Move” and “Two Doves”), the rest require you to invest some time in them. In this age of iTunes and MP3s, people can go through albums piecemeal and quickly move on if something doesn’t strike them right away. I’m certainly guilty of this. But you can’t listen to Bitte Orca like that, you have to go through it once or twice before you can break the shell and get to the sweetness inside. The album reminds me of when I had the time to sit down and fully immerse myself in a piece of music, to put my headphones on and just listen and explore a record. The last time I can remember doing that was skipping class and listening to Arcade Fire’s Funeral twice in a row shortly after it came out. It’s almost an innocent feeling, to be able to spend that much time with an album and absorb everything it has to offer. Bitte Orca not only encourages this, it requires it. The question is whether you want to take the time to invest in the album. I sure hope you do, because I think you’ll find one of the most rewarding experiences of the year. You just have to work for it.

Of course, you could still end up not liking it. That’s fine too.

MP3 Dirty Projectors – Stillness Is the Move
MP3 Dirty Projectors – Temecula Sunrise

Posted by Matt in Album Review