Bitte Orca

After spinning heads with Rise Above, an album that reimagined Black Flag’s Damaged purely from memory, Dirty Projectors drove home everything that made them special with Bitte Orca, sweetening their tense, knotty tunes with a sinuous, almost-R&B feel. Amber Coffman and Angel Deradoorian’s spectacular backing vocals are pushed to the fore, taking the lead to great effect on “Stillness Is the Move,” with Dave Longstreth’s meticulous arrangements now serving his most direct and unselfconsciously lovely songs to date.