Following the release of their live-in-studio record, Sing The Melody, and 10 months after Lamp Lit Prose, Dirty Projectors are back with new music.
“Overlord” is the latest from the Brooklyn band and puts the band’s semi-new vocalist Maia Friedman at the center of the video. While exploring some of the new architecture New York City has to offer now, you see Friedman, along with other members of the band, pondering the current city around them.
“Tongue-in-cheek ode to surveillance capitalism? Critique of our primal confusion of charisma for actual leadership? Cautionary tale about blind faith in technology? Anti-fascist manifesto? Who knows, but “Overlord” feels like a “Both Sides Now” for our brave new Amazon Prime world,” a press release described the track.
Aside from exploring more rootsy and acoustic sounds, the band’s lineup features the members that core Projectors member Dave Longstreth, who also directed the video, put together during the Lamp Lit Prose tour in 2018 and 2019. Friedman not only handles the lead vocals but also plays guitar and co-wrote the lyrics on this song with Longstreth. Nat Baldwin plays upright bass. Meanwhile, Mike Johnson is the band’s drummer and, Mauro Refosco plays congas. Felicia Douglass and Kristin Slipp bring on the additional vocals.
Dirty Projectors will also be playing a special performance-in-the-round at Thalia Hall in Chicago on March 27. You can find tickets here.
