Generationals - Alix - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Dirty Projectors, the beloved, decade-plus-long recording pursuit of producer, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist David Longstreth, presents the eighth full-length album in the band's wildly varied and fascinating discography. As with previous Dirty Projectors albums, the sees Longstreth lead a group of hugely talented contributors, including Solange Knowles, Tyondai Braxton, Mauro Refosco (Atoms For Peace, Red Hot Chili Peppers), and Dawn Richard (D?WN and Danity Kane), in realizing his creative vision.

As Generationals, Grant Widmer and Ted Joyner have been stretching the boundaries of pop music for over a decade. From Con Law, their ebullient 2009 debut, to their adventurous and groove-infused LP from 2019 Reader As Detective, the New Orleans based duo have made songs that are consistently immediate and memorable. Even though their music always sounds effortless, they approach their songwriting with an auteur-like perfectionism constantly tweaking and fine-tuning their craft.

From their inception, Generationals have existed at the convergence of classic style and contemporary technique. Students of an analog school actualized in a digital medium, Grant Widmer and Ted Joyner have always felt most comfortable reveling in this juxtaposition. Grounded in a catalog of infectious pop hooks that feel both familiar and radically new all at once, Generationals mastered their distinct voice as a means to widen the path before them. Reader As Detective, their new full-length album, weds vintage pop canon and modern pop production in a way this duo has proven incomparably adept. From the cornerstone sample of InchI Turned My Back on the Written Word,Inch (a recontextualization of an unreleased b-side) to the playful synths and stuttered drums of InchDream Box,Inch and jogging rhythms of InchBreaking Your Silence,Inch Generationals continue to push the envelope by playing by their own rules.