The Dirty Projectors
Rise Above
Dave Longstreth is no stranger to making the odd concept album--in 2005, he released what he called an "opera" about Don Henley, The Getty Address. Somewhere between then and now, he decided to record Rise Above, another concept album. This time, instead of someone like Henley, he chose the always polarizing Black Flag. Rise Above is the result--it's Dave Longstreth attempting to construct an album that's as much of what he could remember from Damaged, arguably Black Flag's most well-known album. Longstreth's twist, as if that wasn't enough, was that he'd rely on his memory of the album alone, choosing not to listen to the original until it was completed. It's the sort of experiment that, under any circumstances, should have resulted in something that's not only horrible to listen to, but grossly masturbatory as well. On some level, that's what this reviewer experienced upon the first listen. But there's far more going on here then a first listen can clue on in--like any music that's not immediately accessible, Rise Above will eventually bleed its way into your brain. The construction of the vocals, the lyrics themselves, the notes--none of Rise Above sounds anything like Black Flag, but it also doesn't really sound like anything else either. Whereas Flag's album was a brutal, openly hostile album that only pulled back on occasion for Henry Rollins to roar satirical diatribes against alcoholism and television, Longstreth's take is one that, while embracing the "don't need your fucking sympathy" of the lyrics, chooses to perform everything with languid hypnotic vocals, wind instruments and strings. At the end of the day, the album can't completely jettison it's bizarreness, and it's a great example of an acquired taste--but until Scarlett Johannsen releases her Tom Waits covers album, it's the best what-the-fuck piece of music to have laying around.
-Tucker Stone, 2008
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