EP of the Week: Dirty Projectors' "Temecula Sunrise"

It has been a huge year for Dirty Projectors! With the release of Bitte Orca the band went from being an interesting little indie band to being a band that could appear on all the late night talk shows and tour the world to packed houses. It was a pretty big leap but based on the tremendous pop sounds coming off Bitte Orca it's one that is totally merited. Ask just about any music critic about their year end list right now and I assure you Bitter Orca will come up just about every time, it is that good, and now the band has followed that up with a 4-song EP that includes two songs off Bitte Orca and two new tunes.

At this point I will assume you know all about the EP's title track, "Temecula Sunrise" and "Cannibal Resource", the two songs that also appeared on the band's break out LP earlier this year. Those tunes set the tone for the EP with their gorgeous melodies and harmonies leading into the two new songs folks are probably most excited about. Recorded at the same time the rest of Bitte Orca was, "Ascending Melody" and "Emblem of the World" sound like they too belonged on the record. The melodies are as beautiful as what we heard on the album and those vocal harmonies fit right alongside everything that has come before. But I guess that should be expected since they were all born of the same creative process.

I suppose Temecula Sunrise serves more as a victory lap for the Dirty Projectors and their fantastic year than anything else. It gives their fans a chance to witness a few cast off B-sides, and allows them to close the book on their Bitte Orca chapter and start looking towards what will come next for the band. Even then the four songs here are beautiful examples of the indie pop music fans have fallen head-over-heels for all year long.
Dirty Projectors - "Temecula Sunrise"
Dirty Projectors - "Emblem of the World"