Dirty Projectors – "Overlord"

After solidifying their 21st century indie bona fides with 2009’s Bitte Orca and 2012’s Swing Lo Magellan, Dirty Projectors sat out the middle the ’10s. But since they returned with a self-titled album three years ago, they’ve been moving at a pretty quick pace — following it a year and a half later with Lamp Lit Prose and the live in-studio collection Sing The Melody late last year. They don’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon: Yesterday, the band appeared to be teasing something Instagram. And today, that something has arrived.

Dirty Projectors are back with a new song called “Overlord.” A press release suggests it’s rather inspired by the times we live in, alluding to all-too-powerful tech companies and late capitalism and fascist tendencies. It’s the first Dirty Projectors song to feature the iteration the band that Dave Longstreth gathered to tour behind Lamp Lit Prose in 2018 and 2019. The music was written by Longstreth, while he split lyric duty with guitarist Maia Friedman, who handles lead vocals for the first time.

The song comes with a video directed by Longstreth and featuring Friedman singing in various New York City settings. Friedman sings from a very long subway escalator ride — these things can give you vertigo real easy, I wouldn’t want to film a music video on one — and then the Oculus, and then in front Vessel, the Instagram trap sculpture in Hudson Yards. Check it out below.

“Overlord” is out now.