Dirty Projectors Share Artful “Up in Hudson” Video

David Longstreth’s Dirty Projectors released a self-titled album in February, and it’s only fitting that we’re getting a new visual for a Dirty Projectors track now, nearly 10 months after the fact. After all, Dirty Projectors itself took “four years, seven months and eleven days” to arrive, by Longstreth’s calculations, a long-gestating follow-up to 2012’s Swing Lo Magellan. But late is better than never, and the “Up in Hudson” video is a sight to see.

Directed by Daren Rabinovitch of Encyclopedia Pictura (Bjork, Kanye West), the clip is flush with color, beginning with a couple in a shopping center parking lot who do the figurative and literal dance that is falling in love. From there, the video jumps from one couple to the next (each with bulbous ears and noses, a visual manifestation of their vulnerabilities), never shaking the nagging sense of melancholy that dogs Dirty Projectors’ eight-minute, nine-verse centerpiece. “I’m just up in Hudson bored and destructive, knowing that nothing lasts,” Longstreth sings in the song’s waning minutes, looking back on a love that slipped through his fingers. The highlight of the video comes after, when a lone crossing guard cuts loose some surprisingly cathartic moves set to the song’s extensive instrumental break, using music to regain control of his life.

Encyclopedia Pictura said in a statement:

Through four very different couples, the arc of a relationship is portrayed in its stages of growth, death and rebirth. To unite our characters as we weave through their stories, we tried to present their vulnerabilities in a surreal way, right on the surface, in their faces.

Choreographer Kiani Del Valle added:

I used the choreography to enhance the story and make us connect with each couple in a more personal way. It’s always special when you get to orchestrate movement, and also be a part of the final work. Hopefully what we have accomplished is a true personal allegory of heartbreak, moving away from stereotypical notions of beauty and getting playfully deeper into the intangible human emotions.

Watch the “Up in Hudson” video below, listen to Dirty Projectors’ 2007 Daytrotter Session further down and read our review of Dirty Projectors here. You can stream the record right here.