Photo:
We meet Dave Longstreth – singer and self-proclaimed musical director – of Dirty Projectors ahead of the band’s gig at London’s Cargo. The band have just released ‘Rise Above’ an album based around Black Flag’s 1981 release ‘Damaged’. It takes ten songs from the album as its loose basis – the story goes that the band remade the album without prepping themselves by listening to the original and so it was crafted from memory. The resulting album adds a beauty and tenderness to Black Flag’s original songs. Though this is not to say they lose any of their power, they just hit you in different ways. Often it’s the way Dave drains every last syllable out of every lyric that affects you most. The songs are almost completely restructured and certainly the timbre of the songs has shifted. The changes to the originals are many: a woodwind intro is added to ‘Police Story’, ‘Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie’ is all R’n’B style female harmonies whilst ‘Room 13’ starts out as a soft ballad and ends with a string section.
Dave explains how the record came about: “My parents were moving from the east coast of America to the west coast and I had to go up there to clean out all of my old childhood stuff, found this tape case of an album I listened to as a teenager and I, err…I don’t know, I wanted to remake it.”
We add a comment we read about how it was Dave’s favourite album as an adolescent, which he quickly denies: “It wasn’t. Somebody made that up”. Gigwise can’t help but feel a little disappointed. Perhaps it’s a writer’s tendency to romanticise things. I want him to declare how vital that album was to him growing up. Describe how the album’s themes of angst, rebellion and alienation resonated with him as a teenager. Maybe a nice little memory of him huddled over the tape player, the music booming loud out the speakers having some incredibly profound affect on him. But no, no matter how much he is questioned as to that album’s significance Dave simply states vaguely “it was just there”. As if – had this been any other album he had come across that day when he revisited his childhood home it would have received just the same treatment: he would have embarked on the very same journey.
Was it quite important though? “I think it was. But I liked a lot of different music. It was more just…it was there, you know?”
What was it about it that made you pick up on it and want to remake it? “That’s what I’m not sure of. The more people have asked me this question the less I am sure of it. I think I just did it because it was there.”
Dave remains vague and elusive when answering questions about his own music. Asked how he would describe the music he makes – something which so many seem to struggle to do, at least in clearly defined terms - he ponders for a moment: “I’m with them on that struggle. I guess I make it so I don’t have to describe it.” Is it something you aim for – to make something that is not easily categorizable? “I don’t start from the position of ‘Let’s make something inscrutable’, you know what I mean? But it’s more just like…that’s the way I make music, I guess.”
He becomes more animated when the focus is not on himself or his music but when talking about other musicians. For example, when asked which artists he aspires to. The response is somewhat unexpected: Beyonce. Although the explanation he offers is telling: “She’s just an amazing singer. I love her character. I don’t know how real it is or how much of a construction it is but just this kind of woman who is alienated by her own insane excellence. I love that”.
Over the years the Dirty Projectors line-up has seen many changes. Much of this is to do with the band’s ever-evolving sound: “Whatever music I make I have to figure out how to play it, so different groups come out of that.” Dave seems content with the current line-up of Brian McOmber on drums, Amber Coffman on guitar and vocals and Angel Deradoorian on bass and vocals however. “This group is going to be around for a little while. I like that it’s smaller. It’s really flexible.”
How does that impact how you work as a band? Is it easier to work with less people? “It sort of is. In some ways it’s harder because we all have to be on all the time, singing and playing.”
The many members past and present of Dirty Projectors has included a high number of females. Dave has in the past expressed his disbelief at the horrendous way in which they were treated, a point which his elaborates on in our interview: “Well it’s just like everybody is like ‘oh my god it’s a girl playing bass!’ and it’s horrible in that that’s something that is automatically exotic or to be fetishised. I just don’t think it should be unusual. Girls…we can all do it. There’s also…and I’m sure the girls would bring it up, on one hand just being perceived as exotic and odd because you’re a girl that plays music and on the other hand not being given the time of day, not being treated as a real musician. It’s just stereotypes and that kind of thing.”
What are the plans for Dirty Projectors? “Well, we’re going to be on tour for six weeks. And then I’m going to finish an album that we’ve got about half-finished. I’m really looking forward to playing with Battles and Deerhoof. It’s going to be great to see Scandinavia, I’ve never seen Scandinavia and it will be interesting to see what the shows are like, I’m sure it’s going to be like (claps slowly) two dudes at the back clapping but it will be great to be up there.”
Do you notice differences in the audience reaction in different places you play? “Oh yeah, it’s different all the time but I’ve given up trying to understand why.”
It’s something writers seldom do: give up trying to understand why. But maybe we don’t always need to know exactly why or how a record is made or what it was that moved Dirty Projectors to make such a sublime re-addressing of a classic album. Perhaps it’s just enough to listen and appreciate.
