Watch Dirty Projectors Sharp New Music Video

Dirty Projectors have made a reputation out of writing quirky, arty songs that are as easy to get stuck in your head as they are to pick out in a crowd. Their popular “Stillness is the Move” sidestepped the constraints of genres, and got love from both indie and mainstream music fans. With a predominantly art and indie rock feel mixed with influences uncommon for indie music, they built on previous underground success and made a leap into the public eye on 2009’s Bite Orca.

When guitarist, vocalist, and heavy contributor Amber Coffman left Dirty Projectors in 2013, it was not certain which direction the band would go. In addition to the hardship of losing a contributing member, frontman David Longstreth also had to deal with losing a romantic relationship with Coffman. In 2017, the band’s self-titled eighth album showed more of a push toward a solo approach with more modern R&B influences pushing through. The hardships of going through a breakup shone through in the subject matter of their first album in four years.

The first single from the upcoming Lamp Lit Prose is a return to a more quirky indie feel. While many of the singles from Dirty Projectors left a nihilistic impression on the listener. “Break-Thru” features an upbeat indie sound overlaid with guitar lines dripping with West African highlife influence. The lyrics, while still relationship oriented, are upbeat and positive. While this song signals a return to elements of their breakthrough Bite Orca album, we’ll have to wait and see how the rest of the album balances Longstreth’s influences.

Lamp Lit Prose is out July 13th on Domino Record Co.