Swing Lo Magellan

Dirty Projectors’ willful eclecticism is both their strength and weakness. Blogger buzz, and the success of Greenpoint fellow travelers Grizzly Bear, saw them poised for a breakthrough with 2010’s Bitte Orca. However, Dave Longstreth’s jazzy, atonal songs were just too weird to gain purchase in the mass market. Recorded in a secluded town in upstate New York, it would be an exaggeration to say their sixth album is the chart heat-seeker Dirty Projectors cheerleaders have long clamoured for but it’s certainly their catchiest and most straightforwardly enjoyable. It starts with the Pavement-esque gyrations of ‘Offspring Are Blank’, Longstreth’s throaty half-spoken delivery giving way to a chugging fade-out. On ‘About To Die’, meanwhile, the frontman unveils a ragged falsetto, interwoven with guitarist Amber Coffman’s bruised siren delivery. For sure, there’s plenty of the group’s trademark quirkiness – the title track is an ululating chunk of lo-fi prog, ‘Gun Has No Trigger’ Antony and the Johnson’s trapped inside free-form jazz. But Swing Lo Magellan is a record that could win Dirty Projectors a wider audience. The question is: do they want it?