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Description
**Bitte Orca** (2009) represents Dirty Projectors' metamorphic leap from left-of-center indie experimentation to polished art-pop sophistication. Frontman David Longstreth, the album's producer and primary songsmith, sought to "explode their temperaments into individual numbers," a mission that yielded a work so distinctively the band that even Grizzly Bear's Ed Droste admitted he couldn't categorize its genre. Released via Domino Records, Bitte Orca marked the group's debut on the label and became their only studio album to feature vocalist Angel Deradoorian as a full-time member. The title itself-German for "please" combined with "orca"-was selected for its sonic qualities rather than semantic weight, though Longstreth noted the music itself "felt very much about colors, and their interaction."
The album's aesthetic leans into a cinematic art-pop landscape, where Longstreth's signature layered vocals and intricate production mingle with strings and unconventional rhythms. Notably, a quartet-violinists Jordan Dykstra, Caleb Russell, and Andrew Todd, plus cellist Anna Fritz-provided orchestral textures on key tracks like "Stillness Is the Move" and "Remade Horizon." The album leaked two months before its June 9 release, yet the internet-fueled buzz only fueled its trajectory.
Critics embraced its audacious synthesis of genres: Pitchfork awarded it a 9.2, ranking it second among 2009's best albums; Time magazine listed it at number two for the year. Rolling Stone's 100 Best Songs of the Decade includes its title track, and the album remains a benchmark of ambitious indie pop. Though the band had honed their craft on earlier records, Bitte Orca finally allowed them to stretch the boundaries of what the critic's job should look like.
For collectors, the expanded edition (2010) offers B-sides and an acoustic set, while the 2020 Vinyl Me, Please reissue paired the original with bonus tracks on colored vinyl. The artwork, designed by Rob Carmichael with direction from Longstreth, evokes old-school European paintings and features band members Amber Coffman and Deradoorian.
[AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/album/bitte-orca-mw0000818143) | [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitte_Orca) | [Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/bitte-orca/) | [Time](https://time.com/magazine/2009-01-05-the-top-10-everything-of-2009)
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