It’s ok if you would like to bathe in Dave Longstreth’s sweat. The sold out Dirty Projectors show last night at The Troubadour in L.A. made it clear that this art-rock powerhouse deserves every ounce of praise they garner. Between Longstreth’s innate songwriting talent and a kaleidoscopic sound palette exists the touchstone of what an indie band ought to be.
Angel Deradoorian launched the set with “Two Doves” off of the group’s latest release, Bitte Orca. It was a stunning musical meditation with a flawless delivery.
Conquering the map, critics, and fans could have an ego-boosting effect on any band, but how unassuming they all looked in nondescript clothes. Longstreth eagerly performed masterpiece after masterpiece as if holding out on the audience for another second would loose the magic; his gifts come from another place altogether.
“It’s really good to be here,” Longstreth muscles the courage to say, not just “pretty good,” as he mumbled at the beginning. The statement seemed to endear him more to the already swooning crowd.
Holding it down alongside Longstreth was the incredible Amber Coffman. Before the set, she came on-stage to tinker with her guitar, and the folks behind me snickered because she looks so young. No doubt those fools were eating their words from the moment she opened her mouth and her voice gracefully soared over the room-shaking drums, keyboards, guitars and bass. From her guitar licks to transforming her voice to sing as if it were a xylophone on “Remade Horizon,” she was so crisp and cool as she shimmied in her awkward-indie-girl kind of way.
Deep in the throes of runaway jamming, when countless other bands would have smashed their instruments, the Dirty Projectors crew teased the breaking point and reeled in these moments of Mayhem and near cacophony for a startlingly beautiful performance. Brian Mcomber’s drumming on “Fucked for Life” was electrifying and Longstreth and Coffman screaming their signature “AH” catapulted the show to the next level.
To make the lithe songs jump to life, Longstreth seemed to be orchestrating in a quiet way, moving around to be with Mcomber, Deradoorian, Coffman and Nat Baldwin on bass. He would have crossed the whole stage to Haley Dekle offering her otherworldly voice if it were possible to circumvent a collision with Coffman. Though he is certainly the frontman, everyone in the group is imperative and shines.
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