It's a weird job because making music or writing a song is a personal thing... and it kind of has to be. You can always tell when people are faking. David Longstreth More Quotes by David Longstreth More Quotes From David Longstreth I like the idea that songs can communicate in a way no other media can. That's why I write them. David Longstreth why like media way Art can contextualise and buttress fame. So rather than being antagonistic in the way Fugazi would have had it in 1989, particularly in the present, maybe they are one - they belong to one another. David Longstreth present fame way art Sexual harrassment and abuse is intolerable. David Longstreth intolerable sexual abuse Fame can amplify the message of art in a remarkable, meaningful way. David Longstreth message fame way art A song is about heartbreak - but what are the constituent feelings? What are the aspects? There is anger, there is guilt, there are all these different things. I guess putting those voices into dialogue together just felt real. David Longstreth anger together feelings song What genres are good for is being like, 'Here are the parameters. Here's something about the way it's going to make you feel. And here's something about the subject matter.' David Longstreth feel good you way I got a little baby grand piano off Craigslist for, like, $500. It's a beautiful instrument that you hear on a bunch of the songs. That's that piano on 'Keep Your Name' and 'Work Together' and 'Little Bubble.' David Longstreth you together work beautiful Music has been there for me. Whether good or bad, it's the way that I process experience. As a listener and as a writer. David Longstreth good me experience music I do think that one of the best effects the Internet has had on music is that it's allowed these false walls between different music communities to vaporize. We can see that this is a big, complex, interconnected web. David Longstreth best think internet music There's been no two Dirty Projectors records that have had the same cast of characters every time. David Longstreth same time two dirty The more songs I've written, the more I've grown interested in telling a story. When I first began, I had this list of opaque phrases where you can make of it what you want. David Longstreth more story you want What music can do so well is tell the truth in a subjective way. David Longstreth tell music truth way As far as working with Kanye and Solange, that was amazing. After 'Swing Lo Magellan', I needed a change. Getting to work in that capacity, writing for other people and working for other people as a writer and as a person who's not representing it as the front person or whatever - it's such a different perspective you can get. David Longstreth you change work people Kanye has this discursive way of working, getting input from a range of people, that I thought was really cool. David Longstreth thought cool people way I used to feel that musical knowledge and emotional truth-telling were antagonistic. But I was too curious about chords and instruments and recording to stay locked in that mentality. David Longstreth feel curious emotional knowledge Working as a producer, an arranger, and, in some cases, as a writer for some other people gave me a super different perspective. David Longstreth me perspective different people I love 808s - not only the Auto-Tune but just ,in general, the embrace of a kind of digital style of working. David Longstreth embrace digital style love It's helpful to just hear things through friends' ears, people who know you well. I guess when I started Dirty Projectors, when I was, like, 20, I always imagined it would be kind of like an amphibious vehicle: something that could go with me wherever I need to go. That kind of constant change has been in the DNA from the beginning. David Longstreth me you change people Just like any songwriter, the songs come out of where I am in my life and what I'm doing and who I'm hanging out with and the kind of sounds I'm imagining. I always loved the idea of it evolving in the same way that life changes. David Longstreth loved i-am my-life life A few things I've noticed about myself as a listener, and the music that I relate to and the music that's continued to mean something to me since I was a little kid or a teenager, is that they're songs that tell stories and songs that come from a place of experience. David Longstreth myself me experience music
