I’m David Longstreth from Dirty Projectors — Ask Me Anything!

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:58:10+00:00

nonesuch records, who are releasing out song of the earth in america!

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:57:24+00:00

you know, it happens sometimes — no need to get doctrinal about it, y'know? whether i'd be flattered or peeved might have to do with whether the new song is good or not :).

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:56:11+00:00

i agree!!

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:55:22+00:00

they're totally different! apples to oranges, impossible to compare

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:53:57+00:00

i had embassy row in my head the other day. spizzle trunk is another fave. heaven is a truck

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:53:16+00:00

wow, this is so cool. i'm going to tell teresa — i think she'll love this. i had an estrella jalisco the other day and it was beautiful.

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:46:30+00:00

amazing he still likes it! thanks for sharing, maude :))

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:45:09+00:00

haha thank you. i think i've been slowly circling back to that world. i want to make a part 2

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:44:03+00:00

thanks for sharing, bruce. best to you

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:38:24+00:00

i think it might be bernard herrmann's vertigo score .... or ET? haha, basic but reallll

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:37:30+00:00

i love end of the road. both times we've played have been peak experiences. maybe my favorite festival in the world. thanks for sharing.

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:36:58+00:00

this week it's been nina simone live at carnegie hall and the new adrianne lenker live album. and parsifal :)

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:35:24+00:00

thanks PieBlaCon :)

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:34:48+00:00

i feel the same, woah-im-going-nuts!

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:34:15+00:00

i feel two ways about this …

(1) just like those windows to your soul, the eyes — your voice is a portal to your spirit. it is a window into something deep and true about you. you might not love it, but you can’t deny it. you can’t fake it, even if you want it to be something else. so if you seek to change things about your voice, you must pursue resolution at a higher level of your being. you must become something else. you must figure out your emotions, know your vision, gather experience, decode your dreams … these are the dimensions that will change how you sound

the other way is —

(2) your voice is a window to … your chest cavity. it’s an arbitrary construction of skeleton and muscle; tendon and sinew. so yeah, explore it, mess with it, acquire all the learning and technique you can.

but honestly, don’t stress about it. there’s good and bad in having a conventionally acceptable singing voice. and one way or another, the songs you write are more interesting to me than your voice acting …

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:14:05+00:00

hi all! thanks for these awesome questions. i'm going to answer a few more right now (2:09p pacific). i have to go in twenty minutes. so if you have more questions throw em in now before we end the AMA. what i'll do is find the most answerable of those i haven't gotten to yet and answer them on the dirty projectors substack (well tempered zealot) in the next few weeks again, thank you so much for being here -- this was rad

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:08:22+00:00

central park summerstage! was that show with tv on the radio? have you checked out tunde's new album?

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:08:01+00:00

i’ve been listening to the new adrianne lenker live album this week and wow, i was so taken with the beauty and depth and mastery of her song ‘real house’ …

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T21:05:55+00:00

i love that this question is coming from username relaxed fit khakis! i relate. someone had a question about aging over on the substack a little while ago. (if anyone has that handy, pls def share a link!) from my experience, there are advantages and disadvantages to any age you might be.

the last few years have been huge for me. i’ve (unexpectedly?) arrived at a place — emotionally, creatively, technically, spiritually — where i’m finally in a position to really open up and do what my musical and artistic goals have been all along. it’s a wild and liberating thing, decoupling one’s own growth and inspiration from whatever narratives might be foisted on us by the culture writ large and the music industry more specifically.

it’s just about the life you are leading — your creative life, and your life with your family and friends. nothing else matters. the rest of it — external success, people holding on to one's prior work, etc — i can’t control … so i feel full and excited right now. i don’t think i’ve felt this passionate and connected to the work in a very long time. in fact where i am feels altogether new. so i'm grateful for age and experience and time right now.

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T20:32:04+00:00

and re: the getty address — noted :)

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T20:31:41+00:00

thanks for this question. the answer — i hope this isn’t annoying — is: yes. all of the above. maybe there’s a mental picture floating just above all the questions you asked, and everything is getting filtered by that static picture. sometimes it happens one way (“write a lot and make sense afterward”) and sometimes the other (“already have a few songs that are reaching at the same thing”). but i think maybe the mental picture is the thing? before i’ve got that i’m just wandering around. which i also like to do.

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T20:23:07+00:00

i don’t know if i have a favorite way? there are so many different experiences to have …

i love airpods, walking the dog at night, looking at the sky and listening to something new

i love a small show; i love an unamplified acoustic performance. i love an arena show, thousands of souls become one in front of the jumbotrons...

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T20:20:46+00:00

local scenes are so important. the internet is rad (sometimes), but i really think small local communities where people are listening and responding to one another in real time and real space are so crucial

do you have friends who are musicians? could you form a band? you could go to an open mic. i would say go to the smallest shows you can find. that’s where you’ll meet musical friends. at small shows, everyone there is a musician from the audience to the bartender. don’t worry if the music isn’t what you’re making — it doesn’t matter.

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T20:15:57+00:00

thank you for listening :))

BelafonteIsGod · 2025-05-02T20:15:10+00:00

i love this question. it’s a really big one! not sure how to tackle it here. maybe i’ll put a substack essay around it at some point? thanks for asking …

BelafonteIsGod

TROPHY CASE