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Jul 9, 2018While this album could be characterised as a return to 'normality' for Dirty Projectors, such a label has no bearing on a group this relentlessly imaginative; a creative rebirth would be more accurate.
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Jul 23, 2018The last album was such a darkly compelling set that it’d be wrong to frame Lamp Lit Prose as a ‘return to form’, but it’s perhaps a return to the light, to uneasy listening of a different sort.
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Jul 13, 2018Dirty Projectors felt like an ending, but Lamp Lit Prose suggests several new beginnings and an army of collaborators looking to help Longstreth find inspiration and passion among the ashes
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Jul 31, 2018Everything feels so much more alive, everything so much more stark; Longstreth seems to have emerged from a year-long slumber, and there is no more sleeping in sight.
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The WireJul 26, 2018Lamp Lit Prose sparkles with ideas even as it gets its groove on with a more developed version of his electronic R&B album last year. Everything here should be too much but with several albums under his belt, somehow Longstreth can as easily shift from one style to another as run them both at the same time. [Aug 2018, p.65]
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Jul 13, 2018It’s a marvellous return to form for an act that possesses such unbridled creative energy. We’re glad they’ve been put to joyous use this time round.
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Jul 13, 2018While HAIM, Amber Mark, Syd (of the Internet), Robin Pecknold (of Fleet Foxes) and Empress Of all contribute their talents to these songs, this is very much David Longstreth's music, and it's heartfelt, passionate, and beguiling in the tradition of Dirty Projectors' best work.
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Jul 13, 2018A decidedly more organic record; buoyant and witty, and notably shy of meandering eight-minute odysseys.
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Jul 11, 2018Where Longstreth once isolated each of his artistic tendencies, he now seems more willing to let them occupy the same space, rubbing up against one another to create something altogether unique and truly joyous.
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Jul 11, 2018“Dirty Projectors” struggled toward hope, but Lamp-Lit Prose has found it, and at its end it opens toward new possibilities.
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Jul 11, 2018Lamp Lit Prose is his shiniest, airiest, even catchiest set of songs. The new record exchanges the jarring, glitchy electronic intrusions and arid trap percussion he used on “Dirty Projectors” for the springy guitar lines of older Dirty Projectors albums, bringing out their warmest tones.
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Jul 11, 2018The hodgepodge of ideas can make for challenging listening towards the end, but Lamp Lit Prose feels like Longstreth’s back having fun, playing with ideas, every listen offering up something new to discover.
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UncutJul 9, 2018Lamp Lit Prose is another outstanding chapter in what is shaping up to be one of the great 21st-century musical odysseys. [Aug 2018, p.29]
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MojoJul 9, 2018Longstreth still doesn't make it easy on the listener with his frenetic arrangements. But, this time around, the sense of plainly expressed emotions is strong. [Aug 2018, p.91]
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Jul 12, 2018Daring, interesting, and never simple, kudos must be given for thinking outside of the box. Though not always successful, Lamp Lit Prose is rarely dull, turning corners and switching gears when you least expect it--even within the same song.
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Jul 13, 2018Longstreth may never be able to get out of the shadow of Bitte Orca, but Lamp Lit Prose finds him embracing his quirk, wit, and warmth, ending up with his brightest album yet.
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Jul 11, 2018If Dirty Projectors was the band’s long winter, the sonic equivalent of holding space within which their frontman could probe and process, Lamp Lit Prose is the resultant progress, a gratifying spring bloom bearing the sweeter-than-expected fruits of Longstreth’s labor.
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Jul 16, 2018While deeply impressionistic, Lamp Lit Prose inverts its predecessor’s emotional black hole, largely thanks to its revival of airy Bitte Orca-style compositions and a pick’n’mix guest list.
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Jul 20, 2018If Dirty Projectors are no longer indie A-listers with the expectation of having each album provide shapeshifting genius, the upside is Lamp Lit Prose sounds like something Longstreth wanted to make rather than had to.
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Jul 13, 2018A summer record full of love, guitars, and a far happier outlook than anyone would have expected from Longstreth a year on from the utter devastation of his last release.
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Jul 13, 2018Lamp Lit Prose is a quiet retreat into the confines of basic rock and pop trappings--perhaps not an unpredictable stepping stone in the group’s career, but certainly not unwelcome either.
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Jul 10, 2018A step forward into what lies ahead for Dirty Projectors rather than the complete self-immolation of its previous attempt. It seems, however, that while Longstreth has indeed found a 'Break-Thru' he still has some way to go if he's to return to his former glories which, perhaps, are now unobtainable.
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Oct 18, 2018The surface boldness of the art cannot make up for how exhausting this record is to consume. Lamp Lit Prose is not for the faint of heart.
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Jul 16, 2018You would not start here if you were new to this ear-boggling band, but Longstreth remains a singular talent.
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Q MagazineJul 9, 2018Full marks, then, for ambitions but there's still a powerful sense here of a man trying way too hard. [Aug 2018, p.108]
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Jul 9, 2018It’s an overdose of things that would, individually, be fantastic, but are made lesser by their combination.
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Jul 13, 2018For Lamp Lit Prose, Longstreth melds both strategies in a flood of ideas and magnificent vocal arrangements. The results are by turns dazzling and exhausting. Partly it’s is an issue of balance.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 14 out of 18
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Mixed: 3 out of 18
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Negative: 1 out of 18
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Sep 10, 2018
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Jul 18, 2018