Song of the Earth is the tenth studio album by Brooklyn-based alternative and fusion rock group Dirty Projectors, and their first in seven years. The album was written with David Longstreth and stargaze. First teased by the release of the leading single “Uninhabitable Earth, Paragraph One” in early January, Song of the Earth is one of the more creatively driven projects by the band that sees them really fuse in more noticeably classical elements than we’ve heard in recent(ish) releases. For better or for worse.

For more reasons than just the present instruments, a lot of the album reads more like a symphony than it does a traditional LP. Off the bat, it is a lengthy listening experience, involving 24 tracks over the course of 64 minutes – their longest to date. Along with that, many transitions between songs are near flawless, and if it wasn’t for thematic lyrical changes, it would be a challenge to notice a new track whatsoever.

The introduction of the album starts out insatiably slow, beyond just the tempo at hand. The first track, “Summer Light,” quickly brings in listeners with an immersive and sonically beautiful instrumental backdrop, only to be ripped right back out in the “yeah, yeah, yeah” chorus and rudimentary instrumentation of the following “Gimme Bread,” that just feels insanely out of place in comparison to the track that came before. The song itself serves as a bit of a low point that really doesn’t have anything unique or enticing to offer musically until halfway through the third minute of the six-minute track, only to be lost about 90 seconds later.

The project then hits a run of three of the four pre-released singles – “At Home,” “Circled in Purple” and “Our Green Garden” –  that together misled on expectations for the finished project, and disappointed in contrast to tracks that were left out of rollout releases, even if they solidly contributed to the commentary provided by the album. I’m sure there’s plenty of someones to blame, but I think I could hand pick better singles by grabbing slips out of a hat with my eyes stapled shut, and it would still give a better feel of the project as a whole, but I digress.

It takes a bit more time for the record to really pick up steam again, staying pretty slow through the last minute of the eighth track “More Mania,” before it reaches a seven-song stretch of pieces that are beyond just mesmerizing. One of the highlights of this run, also one of the high points of the album, is the poetic imagery lined in the lyrics of “So Blue the Lake.” This span of the album is no short of beautiful, and is capped off by the peak of the record in “Twin Aspens (feat. Mount Eerie)” – a partially electronic interpretation of the trademark classical sound of the LP, guided by Longstregth’s vocals alone, an unfortunately rare treat for the album, chanting the likes of “I look up through stars among the leaves at these two aspens and forgotten constellations take new form.”

So it’s a damn shame that a summit like Aspens has to be followed up by a disappointment like “Uninhabitable Earth, Paragraph One.” Don’t get me wrong, the explicit outspoken concern and disgust of misinformation, global warming, and partisanship of unnecessary wealth is a much needed and relieving message. It just sucks that the instrumental backing and introduction to the track isn’t fun to listen to. It isn’t even really abstract in a way that can be appreciated from an artistic standpoint. But maybe that’s the idea? I’m not really sure. If you forgot by the way, this is one of the four songs selected to be a single for the album. Not only that, but it was the lead single and the first to be released. Yuck.

At this point I think the album could have ended here. Whether it’s pleasant or not, Paragraph One is a hell of a poignant period to leave a mark on, and the project is at a very healthy length at this point. I’m glad it didn’t however.

Following another somewhat bland orchestral track in “Kyrie/About My Day,” “Shifting Shalestones” is another song worth stopping to look at. The use of backing vocals as a unified chorus without needing a lead makes for an incredibly calm listening experience that gets carried on through the following “Appetite” and “Bank On,” at least for the first few moments of the latter. The last bits and pieces of the record weave in and out of mediocrity, definitely nailing some highs in the second half of the penultimate track, “Blue of Dreaming.”

The album ends, however, just as it starts. “Raised Brow” offers a mere 55 second playtime that is just as pretty as it is hypnotic, and allows the record to close out in a crescendo to silence. For the themes present, a perfect conclusion.

All in all, Song of the Earth is an overall enjoyable hour of music that can only be brought down by its own swelling. The peaks can be admired just enough to ignore the valleys in the tracklist, and what important commentary that needs to be shown attention to is near impossible to miss. A solid release to end a dreadful seven year hiatus from the band. Solid 6/10.