Dirty Projectors Unveil “Up in Hudson,” Confirm New Self-Titled LP

The steady roll-out for Dirty Projectors’ seventh studio LP has been marked by some of the band’s poppiest and most soulful work to date. “Keep Your Name” was a bit of pitch-shifted torch holding that wouldn’t feel out entirely out of place on Frank Ocean’s Blond, while “Little Bubble” is effectively an R&B number that has Dave Longstreth focused on how much of a shelter can be created by an early-morning embrace. For all of the time the Dirty Projectors’ leader has been covering R&B artists and working with musicians such as Solange, it’s clear their work is finally infecting his.

That trend continues with “Up in Hudson,” a seven-minute chipmunked “ballad” that samples Roberta Flack, has Bon Iver-esque horn squalls, name-checks Kanye West and 2Pac, and works in a “Stillness is the Move” reference. The song’s been labeled “an elegy — to the Obama years, to a generation of indie rock, and to a relationship,” and a “millennial Blood on the Tracks” that sees lives mixed up like code. “Love’s gonna rot and love will just dissipate,” Longstreth wails in aching choruses that are accompanied by that honking brass and deep bass drum hits. It’s hugely ambitious stuff that, at its heart, is focused on the “simplicity” of looking-back with longing.

You can hear the song and check out the new album’s tracklist and album art below. Dirty Projectors is available for pre-order now through Domino and while you wait, you can also hear a 2007 Daytrotter Session from the band via the Paste Cloud.

Dirty Projectors Tracklist:
01. Keep Your Name
02. Death Spiral
03. Up in Hudson
04. Work Together
05. Little Bubble
06. Winner Take Nothing
07. Ascent Through Clouds
08. Cool Your Heart
09. I See You