Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on March 2010

Photo by Teppe

It’s taken the Dirty Projectors four albums and a snowball of critical acclaim overseas to get them to their first ever Japan date. Fortunately, Tokyo had the good sense to turn up en masse, and Club Quattro is stuffed to the gills with a crowd who are receptive to the point of reverential, even giving announced support act Mount Eerie’s doomy troubadour schtick a warm welcome.

Still, there’s no mistaking who the stars of the show are tonight. Even if you’ve listened to the Projectors’ albums a lot—and, crikey, I know I have—hearing the songs live is a revelation. Dave Longstreth and co. pull some implausible tricks with song: the structures have the complexity of prog rock but none of the academic dryness; the melodies are naggingly catchy while being almost impossible to hum. In concert, the rhythms are more muscular, the guitar playing more ragged, the vocal interplay between Amber Coffmann, Angel Deradoorian and Haley Dekle no less extraordinary.

It makes me realize why last year’s Bitte Orca didn’t keep me coming back as much as I thought it would: the songs on the record were a little too tidy, too hemmed-in. Tellingly, that album’s “Stillness is the Move”—its most high-sheen pop moment, but also the one with the slimmest margin for error—is one of the iffiest parts of tonight’s set. Other songs fare better: “Ascending Melody,” released as a free digital download earlier this year, is robust and joyous here, while “Gimme Gimme Gimme” benefits from an extended section of guitar skronk.

They end with a cover of Bob Dylan’s “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine,” and a whole heap of applause. Note to Smash: bring these guys back, ASAP. Fuji Rock would be nice.