Recap Dirty Projectors at First Avenue

Few bands inspire as polarized a reaction as arty Brooklyn prog-rockers Dirty Projectors. With so much stuff going on all at once, Dave Longstrethʼs sometimes painfully, sometimes brilliantly experimental six-piece was destined to be a “love ‘em or hate ‘em” sort of thing. To then try to take that chaotic, warbling vocal orchestration and tumultuous energy and throw it into a live setting—well, it could be a setup for disaster. Luckily, Dirty Projectors know what theyʼre doing. The monsoon-of-sound approach, Longstrethʼs complex arrangements and furious guitar work, the intricate four-part vocals, and hocketing—it all works.

Last night at First Avenue, Longstreth and company rolled through a set list dominated by tracks from their 2009 breakout record, Bitte Orca. “Knotty Pine,” their collaboration with David Byrne for the Dark Was The Night compilation, proved to be an early, spot-on crowd-pleaser, and they handled Byrne’s absence well with a “louder is better” attitude. Obvious favorites “No Intention” and “Stillness Is The Move” saw a fair amount of love from the audience, but Dirty Projectors are a band with a momentum thatʼs sometimes hard to string together from song to song. A mid-set slowdown with “Temecula Sunrise” and “Two Doves” (an obvious throwback to Nico’s “These Days”) was striking to hear live, but marked a slight lull in the show itself. However, they quickly regained their speed, finishing the main set with the frantically beautiful “Useful Chamber” and closing with a strong three-song encore featuring “Cannibal Resource,” perhaps the highlight of the night.