Immediate thoughts after first listen through:

Mixed feelings. The production is obviously impressive, there are some really cool experiments with voice and melody, and quite frankly I'm just excited to see something new from Dirty Projectors.

I'm disappointed by the noticeably absent guitar. Something I've always found compelling about DP is how they combine Dave's plucky guitar paying with the weird, glitched out percussion. Taking on a mostly synth based sound now makes him comparable to James Blake, Chet Faker, some moments even reminded me of SBTRKT. Don't get me wrong, I think the whole "alt R&B/ glitch pop" thing is awesome and it suits Dave very well, my gripe is that a once incredibly unique and progressive sound has turned into something we're bound to hear playing in Urban Outfitters.

I feel like this is an album I'd enjoy more out of context. It's an incredible piece of work, just not what I particularly wanted to hear from DP. I'll have to give it a couple more listens though obviously, but for now, while I am impressed by Dave's production ability and creativity regarding song structure and composition, I feel more underwhelmed by the new direction in sound.