Where Would I Ever Be Without You?

After holing himself up for a year in a home in upstate New York, it’s no doubt that Dirty Projectors’ David Longstreth produced much more than just the twelve songs featured on the recently-released LP Swing Lo Magellan. That takes us to About To Die, the four-song EP released after the LP and containing three unheard tracks.

“About To Die” is the only previously released track and opens the album properly, showcasing Longstreth’s range of ideas and intricacies, incorporating the same array of unique sounds the band is known for accompanied by female vocals from Amber Coffman (guitar, vocals), Olga Bell (keyboard, vocals) and Haley Dekle (vocals) to go alongside Longstreth’s.

Follow-up track “While You’re Here,” dedicated to the late Gerard Smith of TV On The Radio, is two minutes of emotional back-to-back highs-and-lows between a violin and Longstreth’s vocals. With just the strings and a voice, the song captures a drama none of the other songs on the EP do.

“Here Till It Says I’m Not” is a change of sound and mood. The girls chime in with their “ooohs” as instruments alongside an electric guitar and heavy cymbals to accentuate Longstreth’s vocals. The guitar doesn’t go away in the final track, “Simple Request,” and neither do the oohs and ahhhs. This song is lighter and stands out less than other tracks on the album, as if Longstreth wasn’t quite finished building on it.

Dirty Projectors fans will not be disappointed with About To Die, as it is yet another nice piece to add to their collection. Perhaps we’ll hear more of the 50-some demos that didn’t make their latest LP or this EP soon.