In a world where recording technology has made it easier and more affordable than ever to make a performance sound technically precise, it's harder to know just what an act really sounds like. There was never any doubt that Dave Longstreth and his collaborators in Dirty Projectors were a world-class band, but after their breakthrough in 2009 with the masterful Bitte Orca, their albums became cleaner, sleaker, and more indebted to electronics and studiocraft. So for anyone who wonders if Dirty Projectors can actually do all of what they do on-stage, 2019's Sing the Melody is here to show us that, yes, they can. Recorded shortly after they ended their touring cycle following 2018's Lamp Lit Prose, Sing the Melody was recorded live at the Power Station recording studio in New York City, with the touring version of the group playing eight songs just as they did in front of an audience. These performances are precise and the arrangements don't stray especially far from the original studio creations, but there is a warmth and a soulful undertow that sets them apart from the original takes. Kristin Slipp's keyboard work is superb, defining the angles and sharp twists of Longstreth's melodies with joy and assurance, Nat Baldwin's bass is rock-solid with just the right touch of funk, drummer Mike Johnson and percussionist Felicia Douglass provide a foundation that turns up the grooves while holding the songs together, and the expert harmonies are breathy and fully satisfying. And given the talent that surrounds him, it says a lot that Longstreth is still the focal point of these performances; there is a richness in his high, buzzy guitar tone (Maia Friedman ears her paycheck as his ideal six-string foil) and his lead vocals are soulful and from the heart, showing layers of feeling that his more formal efforts lack. The main novelty of Sing the Melody is hearing Dirty Projectors' truncated version of "FourFiveSeconds," the tune Longstreth helped write and produce for Rihanna, Kanye West, and Paul McCartney, but if you've found the band's albums to be a just a bit too clean and chilly, this set offers a bit of a corrective and adds a welcome shot of the human touch to their music. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

1		Right Now
2		What Is the Time
3		That's a Lifestyle
4		I Feel Energy
5		Cool Your Heart
6		FourFiveSeconds
7		Knotty Pine
8		Break-Thru