Swing Lo Magellan is the sixth studio album by American experimental rock group Dirty Projectors, which was released on Domino Records on July 10, 2012 in the United States and July 9, 2012 internationally.
Album cover
The album cover features Dave Longstreth and Amber Coffman talking to one of their neighbors in Upstate New York, where Swing Lo Magellan was recorded. The photo was taken by Dave Longstreth's brother.
Production
The album was written, recorded, produced and mixed by Dirty Projectors frontman Dave Longstreth in Delaware County, New York. Swing Lo Magellan recording sessions spanned a year and resulted in around 40 demos. The album was not recorded with Angel Deradoorian, who was on hiatus from the band.
Longstreth wanted Swing Lo Magellan to be a collection of individual songs instead of an album united by a single theme, unlike with previous albums. In addition, Longstreth sought to write more personal songs.
Style and influences
Swing Lo Magellan has been described as more "beats-driven" and more accessible than previous Dirty Projectors albums. For specific influences, critics and Longstreth himself have cited a variety of influences, ranging from popular music acts such as Nirvana, Lil Wayne, Michael Jackson, Neil Young, En Vogue and Blind Willie Johnson to classical music composers such as Arnold Schoenberg and György Ligeti.Swing Lo Magellan is the sixth studio album by American experimental rock group Dirty Projectors, which was released on Domino Records on July 10, 2012 in the United States and July 9, 2012 internationally.
Album cover
The album cover features Dave Longstreth and Amber Coffman talking to one of their neighbors in Upstate New York, where Swing Lo Magellan was recorded. The photo was taken by Dave Longstreth's brother.
Production
The album was written, recorded, produced and mixed by Dirty Projectors frontman Dave Longstreth in Delaware County, New York. Swing Lo Magellan recording sessions spanned a year and resulted in around 40 demos. The album was not recorded with Angel Deradoorian, who was on hiatus from the band.
Longstreth wanted Swing Lo Magellan to be a collection of individual songs instead of an album united by a single theme, unlike with previous albums. In addition, Longstreth sought to write more personal songs.
Style and influences
Swing Lo Magellan has been described as more "beats-driven" and more accessible than previous Dirty Projectors albums. For specific influences, critics and Longstreth himself have cited a variety of influences, ranging from popular music acts such as Nirvana, Lil Wayne, Michael Jackson, Neil Young, En Vogue and Blind Willie Johnson to classical music composers such as Arnold Schoenberg and György Ligeti.false2022-09-01 10:04:13Swing Lo Magellan820122012-07-102012-07-1042Alternative RockElectronicIndie RockPopRock1123662117803f5bd7e34-b7f5-45db-9d4e-99ce2b9d60cd71a94ed8-03cc-459a-bd35-a081ca88a4023ca01a97-80ee-40f5-8934-3ead90095f33/media/data/media4/Music/Dirty Projectors/Swing Lo Magellan (2012)/folder.jpgDirty ProjectorsAlbumArtistDirty ProjectorsArtistDirty ProjectorsDirty ProjectorsDirty Projectors is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002. The band is the project of singer-songwriter David Longstreth, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The band's current line-up consists of Longstreth, alongside Mike Daniel Johnson (drums), Maia Friedman (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Felicia Douglass (vocals, percussion, keyboards) and Olga Bell (vocals, keyboards).
Since its formation, Dirty Projectors has released eight full-length studio albums, with the project featuring major contributions from co-lead vocalist and guitarist Amber Coffman from 2006 to 2013. Following the release of Rise Above (2007), an album of Black Flag songs as re-imagined from memory, Dirty Projectors released their break-through album, Bitte Orca in 2009. Featuring lead vocals from Longstreth, Coffman, and Angel Deradoorian, the album received widespread critical acclaim and increased the band's exposure significantly. Its follow-up, Swing Lo Magellan (2012) was released to further acclaim.
Following the departure of Coffman in 2013, Longstreth focused Dirty Projectors into a mostly studio-based project, releasing the albums, Dirty Projectors and Lamp Lit Prose, in 2017 and 2018, respectively. Dirty Projectors became a full band once again in 2018 with the addition of co-lead vocalists Felicia Douglass, Maia Friedman and Kristin Slipp to tour in support of Lamp Lit Prose. Inspired by the chemistry and dynamic of the band's current line-up, the group recorded and released five EPs across 2020.
In 2024, former member Olga Bell returned to the band's line-up ahead of performances of an orchestral song cycle, named Song of the Earth.