''Swing Lo Magellan'' is the sixth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

group

Dirty Projectors Dirty 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 b ...

, which was released on Domino Records on July 10, 2012 in the United States and July 9, 2012 internationally.Minsker, Evan
Dirty Projectors Announce New Album

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

. 2 April 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.

Recording

Album cover

The album cover features Dave Longstreth and

Amber Coffman Amber Dawn Coffman (born June 15, 1982) is an American musician, singer and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California, formerly based in Brooklyn, New York. A former member of Sleeping People, Coffman is best known as a former guitarist and vocal ...

talking to one of their neighbors in

Upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region consisting of the area of New York State that lies north and northwest of the New York City metropolitan area. Although the precise boundary is debated, Upstate New York excludes New York City and Long Is ...

, where ''Swing Lo Magellan'' was recorded. The photo was taken by Dave Longstreth's brother.Stosuy, Brandon
Interviews: Dirty Projectors

. 2 July 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.Singh, Amrit
Dirty Projectors’ David Longstreth On Wonderful Rainbows, Being Vulnerable, And The Cowardice In Modern Music
Stereogum. 9 July 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.

Production

The album was written, recorded, produced and mixed by Dirty Projectors frontman Dave Longstreth in

Delaware County, New York Delaware County is a county located in the US state of New York. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 44,308. The county seat is Delhi. The county is named after the Delaware River, which was named in honor of Thomas West, ...

. ''Swing Lo Magellan'' recording sessions spanned a year and resulted in around 40 demos. The album was not recorded with

Angel Deradoorian Angel Deradoorian (born July 18, 1986), also known mononymously as Deradoorian, is a musician based in Los Angeles, California. She is best known for her work with Dirty Projectors as full-time member from 2007 to 2012. She left to pursue a solo ...

, who left the band.DIRTY PROJECTORS ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM 'SWING LO MAGELLAN'
Domino Records. 2 April 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2012. 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 Popular music is music with wide appeal that is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. These forms and styles can be enjoyed and performed by people with little or no musical training.Popular Music. (2015). ''Fun ...

acts such as

Nirvana ( , , ; sa, निर्वाण} ''nirvāṇa'' ; Pali: ''nibbāna''; Prakrit: ''ṇivvāṇa''; literally, "blown out", as in an oil lampRichard Gombrich, ''Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benāres to Modern Colombo.' ...

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman (rapper), ...

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian-American singer and songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, joining Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills, Richie Furay ...

En Vogue En Vogue is an American vocal girl group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the single "Hol ...

and

Blind Willie Johnson Blind Willie Johnson (January 25, 1897 – September 18, 1945) was an American gospel blues singer, guitarist and evangelist. His landmark recordings completed between 1927 and 1930—thirty songs in total—display a combination of powerful "ch ...

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical music, as the term "classical music" also ...

composers such as

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

and

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" ...

.Longstreth, David
Inspiration in the Bible and the Beats

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

. 2 July 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.On Nickelback, Lil Wayne and Nirvana: Dirty Projectors David Longstreth Shares The Thirteen Artists Who Inspired 'Swing Lo Magellan'
Pedestrian.tv. 6 July 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.Needham, Alex
Dirty Projectors - cool in any language

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

. 6 July 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012.

Release

''Swing Lo Magellans first single, "Gun Has No Trigger", was released on March 30, 2012 and was selected as a Best New Track by

on April 2.Neyland, Nick
Dirty Projectors: "Gun Has no Trigger"

. 2 April 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2012. On June 8, 2012, a music video for "Gun Has No Trigger" was released. The music video was visually influenced by

Apple Inc. Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company b ...

iPod The iPod is a discontinued series of portable media players and multi-purpose mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The first version was released on October 23, 2001, about months after the Macintosh version of iTunes ...

commercials and by the default profile images used on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

and

Gmail Gmail is a free email service provided by Google. As of 2019, it had 1.5 billion active users worldwide. A user typically accesses Gmail in a web browser or the official mobile app. Google also supports the use of email clients via the POP an ...

.Tedder, Michael
Video: Dirty Projector's "Gun Has No Trigger"

NBC New York Nonstop Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1960s to the 2000s. The network origina ...

. 8 June 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2012. On June 14, 2012, a second song from the album, "Dance for You," was released online.Fitzmaurice, Larry
Listen: New Dirty Projectors: "Dance for You"

. 14 June 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2012. ''Swing Lo Magellan'' was streamed in its entirety on July 2, 2012. A film featuring music from ''Swing Lo Magellan,'' titled ''Hi Custodian,'' was released on September 7, 2012.Putrino, Matt
Dirty Projectors' "Hi Custodian" Film Gets Release Date, NYC Premiere Info
prefixmag.com. 16 August 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2012. The film, which features band members inhabiting a variety of characters in a surreal narrative about spiritual death and rebirth, was directed by Longstreth and was influenced by '' Runaway'' and '' Purple Rain.''Watch the Full Trailer for the Dirty Projectors Film

. 2 July 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2012. The album peaked at #22 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and #2 on the

Independent Albums The Independent Albums chart (previously titled Top Independent Albums) ranks the highest-selling independent music albums and extended plays (EPs) in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published weekly by '' Billboard'' maga ...

chart.

Reception

''Swing Lo Magellan'' received general acclaim from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 80, based on 41 reviews, indicating "Generally favorable reviews". ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

s Dan Weiss called ''Swing Lo Magellan'' "The Dirty Projectors' best album by a mile," describing the album as " .all magnificent wobble, no collapse." Weiss also praised the female vocals, writing " .the female singers .buttress Longstreth, rather than rescuing him from the car wreck of his own voice." Chris Mincher of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' gave the album a grade of A−, writing "But where Longstreth’s quirks have often felt carefully calculated, here they come off as spontaneous improvisations or even mistakes. This relaxed, informal execution makes ''Swing Lo Magellan'' seem vulnerable, imperfect, and earnestly human. By easing off on all the wizardry—as impressive as it is—Longstreth creates room to actually feel something." ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

''s Grayson Currin gave the album a Best New Music designation, writing "The band's least ornate batch of songs to date builds upon Longstreth's most direct and identifiable lyrics ever. Which means that Dirty Projectors have upped their emotional and structural accessibility all at once."

Alex Niven Alex Niven (born 18 February 1984, Hexham, Northumberland) is an English writer, poet, editor, and former musician. He is a also currently a Lecturer in English Literature at Newcastle University and an editor at Repeater Books. Early life and ...

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quiet ...

described the album as "strikingly warm, organic, and intricately drawn" and noted the "basic primal glee in encountering Longstreth's psychedelic neologisms as they crop up". Thomas May of

musicOMH MusicOMH (stylized as musicOMH) is a London-based online music magazine which publishes independent reviews, features and interviews from across all genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B. History MusicOMH was founded and launched by ...

also praised the album, writing "''Swing Lo Magellan'' affords generous breathing space to Dirty Projectors' music: a context in which new levels of unpretentious eloquence positively flourish." Not all critics were entirely positive towards the album. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

s Darren Franich wrote "It 'Swing Lo Magellan''should be thrillingly anarchic; instead, it just meanders." Aneet Nijjar of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

acknowledged that some listeners might find the band's "rather knowing idiosyncrasy" to be "off-putting and smug."

Blurt Blurt is an English post-punk band, founded in 1979 in Stroud, Gloucestershire. Background Blurt was founded in 1979 in Stroud, Gloucestershire by poet, saxophonist and puppeteer Ted Milton along with Milton's brother Jake, formerly of p ...

wrote that while ''Swing Lo Magellan'' was "instantly likeable," the album "unravels into nonsense and complexity on second glance."Swing Lo Magellan by Dirty Projectors
.

. Retrieved 10 July 2012. Alex Wilson of

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, a ...

did not find the album engaging and criticized the music's inability to match the ideas behind the album. Wilson concluded: "Simply put, the music on ''Swing Lo'' can’t support its great ideas. .Maybe time will prove me completely and utterly wrong, but as far as I can tell, nothing on ''Swing Lo'' walks by itself."

Accolades

On 5 December 2012, ''Swing Lo Magellan'' was nominated for Best Recording Package at the

55th Grammy Awards The 55th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 10, 2013, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2012. The show was broadcast on CBS at 8 p.m. E ...

.Frank Ocean Up for Six Grammys, Including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Best New Artist
''

''. 5 December 2012. Retrieved 6 December 2012. On December 20, 2012,

ranked the album #15 on its list of the top 50 albums of 2012, writing: "For some bands, maturity means getting softer. For bands as talented and skeptical of routine as this one, it means getting better."The Top 50 Albums of 2012
''

''. 20 December 2012. Retrieved 21 December 2012. The album also placed #50 on

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

's list of the top 50 albums of 2012. The album was listed 10th on

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

's list of top 50 albums of 2012.

Track listing

Bonus 7" Single

Early versions of the 'Deluxe Limited Edition First Pressing' of the album sold at some Independent Music stores in the UK included a 7" vinyl single containing two tracks not included on the album. The record was also available for free at all U.S. shows on its summer tour. Its Domino Records catalog number is DNO1012.Kaye, Ben
Dirty Projectors reveal tour-only 7″

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...

. 6 July 2012. Retrieved 14 July 2012. # Side A: "Buckle Up" # Side B: "Desire To Love"

Personnel

Dirty Projectors

David Longstreth David Longstreth (born December 17, 1981) is an American singer and songwriter. He is the lead singer and guitarist for the band Dirty Projectors. Biography Longstreth was born in Southbury, Connecticut. Longstreth attended Yale University and ...

Nat Baldwin Nat Baldwin (born February 21, 1980 in Rochester, New Hampshire) is an American bassist, improvisor, and songwriter. He's released several solo albums since 2003 and is also known for being a former member of Dirty Projectors. In 2020 he released ...

*Brian McOmber *Haley Dekle

Additional Musicians

Music: *

Rob Moose Rob Moose (born 1982) is an American multi-instrumentalist, arranger, producer, conductor, and orchestrator. He primarily plays the violin, viola, and guitar. Early life and education Moose was born in 1982. He was raised in Windsor, Connect ...

- violin (''2, 6, 9'' and ''11'') *

Nadia Sirota Nadia Sirota (born in New York) is an American viola player. Her father is Robert Sirota, a composer and conductor. Life and career Sirota is best known for her singular sound and expressive execution, coaxing solo works from the likes of Nic ...

- viola (''2, 6, 9'' and ''11'') *Clarince Jensen - cello (''2, 6, 9'' and ''11'') *Alex Sopp - flutes (''2, 6, 9'' and ''11'') *Hideaki Aomori - clarinets, saxophone (''2, 6, 9'' and ''11'') *

CJ Camerieri CJ Camerieri (born in New Jersey) is a trumpet and french horn player, arranger, and producer. Camerieri is best known as the brass player for Paul Simon, Bon Iver, and the contemporary classic ensemble yMusic. His extensive discography is highli ...

- trumpet, horn (''2, 6, 9'' and ''11'')

Recording personnel

*David Longstreth - producer, arranger, mixing *Donato Paternostro - engineering, additional mixing (''6, 7, 8'' and ''10'') *Carl Barc - additional mixing (''6, 7, 8'' and ''10'') *

Bob Ludwig Robert C. Ludwig (born c. 1945) is an American mastering engineer. He has mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists including Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed, Qu ...

- mastering

Artwork

*Jake Longstreth - cover photograph *David Longstreth - art direction, design *Rob Carmichael - design

Charts

References

External links

Domino Records' page on ''Swing Lo Magellan''
{{Authority control 2012 albums Domino Recording Company albums Dirty Projectors albums Albums produced by David Longstreth