David Longstreth, Dirty Projectors & Stargaze – ‘Song of the Earth’ album review: Concert music returns to the arms of nature
THE SKINNY: Earth: the planet from which all human life, culture, art, and emotion are born. Since the dawn of humanity, that small blue dot in space has provided a wealth of artistic and musical inspiration to countless figures. From the springtime topos of medieval France to the natural beauty of KPM library music, Mother Nature has boasted a continuous presence in music for centuries. The latest in that long list of Earth-centric albums is the aptly titled Song of the Earth, a collaborative project centred around the talents of David Longstreth, his band Dirty Projectors, and Berlin-based chamber orchestra s t a r g a z e.
An incredibly ambitious project which attempts to redefine the landscape of concert music, Song of the Earth is an expansive 24-track sonic experience, calling upon the collective skillset of Longstreth and company. Along the way, the album collides with other collaborators in the form of folks like Phil Elverum, Steve Lacy, Patrick Shiroishi, Anastasia Coope, Tim Bernardes, Ayoni, Portraits of Tracy, and even author David Wallace-Wells. As you can likely guess from that description, the final product is incredibly diverse and consistently captivating.
Reportedly, this record has been in the works for upwards of three years at this point, and that certainly reveals itself within the tracklisting. It is not that the album feels overdeveloped or lost in itself – quite the contrary, in fact – but there are so many intricate details to be heard on Song of the Earth which gives the album a feeling of being a well-crafted project which has been pored over for many months. Upon every listen, another aspect of the composition reveals itself to the listener, which is the mark of a truly groundbreaking release.
Despite what the title might have you believe, Song of the Earth is not explicitly a climate change record, although it is virtually impossible to listen to the sense of natural beauty evoked on the album without thinking about the untold destruction inflicted upon the planet. It is not a preachy record, it allows listeners to come to their own conclusions and interpretations, whether those interpretations are rooted in a kind of climate activism, or simply in sitting back and taking an hour off from the chaos of everyday life.
After all, at 24 tracks and just over an hour in length, Song of the Earth is not really an album you can dip in and out of. Thankfully, the album is being pressed on double-vinyl, which seems to be the desired method of enjoying it. It is an album that you really have to sit down with and block out the rest of the world for a while to focus on. It might not be for everyone, but the existence of inventive projects like that are becoming increasingly scarce in the modern musical age, and Song of the Earth should be celebrated as a result.
For fans of: Walking through tall grass meadows in long, flowing clothes, reaching out and feeling the gentle breeze on your fingertips, and then awaking in your concrete home and realising the acid still hasn’t worn off.
A concluding comment from Mother Earth: “It’s about damn time people started writing music about me again. It’s been all “3-6-5, party girl bumpin’ that” and “Mustard on the beat, ho” for far too long. Mort Garson didn’t die for this.”
Release date: April 4th | Producer: David Longstreth | Label: Transgressive Records
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