A month ago we hipped you to the pending existence of Dirty Projectors’ About to Die EP, due November 6, which takes its name from a towering standout on the Brooklyn band’s sixth long-player, and SPIN Essential, Swing Lo Magellan. We also shared the Hi Custodian short film, which paid open tribute to Kanye West and Alejandro Jodorowsky. But with new song “While You’re Here,” the Projectors found their inspiration much closer to home. Main man David Longstreth debuted the track via Twitter, and explained that it was written in honor of TV on the Radio member Gerard Smith, who died of cancer last April. The short but sweet song finds Longstreth singing over strings: “While you are here, you are alive.”
Hey, here’s a song I wrote on the day of Gerard Smith’s wake in BK 2 summers ago. This song is for him. Miss u Gerry! youtu.be/3C76T_dOIvc
— David Longstreth (@DavidLongstreth) October 23, 2012