The current lineup of Dirty Projectors is Dave Longstreth (vocals, guitar, other instruments), Nat Baldwin (bass), Mike Johnson (drums), Maia Friedman (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Felicia Douglass (percussion, keyboards, vocals), and Kristin Slipp (keyboards, vocals).
Based in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn with connections to the Portland, OR music scene, the group has produced a distinctive sound of electronic experimentation, melded with traditional instruments and harmonically complex vocals. Their recordings range from Prince-style one-man-recording-studio productions (The Glad Fact), to arranged orchestrations (the "Slaves' Graves" half of Slaves' Graves & Ballads), to basic voice over nylon-string guitar (the "Ballads" half of the aforementioned) to an amalgamation of all these tactics (the 'glitch opera' of The Getty Address and the mixed nature of New Attitude EP). Throughout, Longstreth's aggressively melodic vocals provide a consistent identity for otherwise widely divergent approaches to pop music. Longstreth claims influences ranging from Don Henley to Mariah Carey. The former's influence is most easily seen in The Getty Address album, which is a conceptual opera written from the point of view of Henley as a Spanish Conquistador, though the latter's vocal gymnastics clearly provide a clue to Longstreth's approach. Rise Above is an attempt to re-imagine the lyrics of Black Flag's DamagedDamaged album from memory over complex music that sees influence from the contemporary African blues and funk of such artists as Ali Farka Toure and Konono No. 1.
Members of Dirty Projectors collaborated with Björk to perform an original composition by Longstreth, written for five voices and acoustic guitar, as part of a charity concert to benefit Housing Works, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing shelter for homeless men, women, and children suffering from AIDS.
Fluorescent Half Dome
Dirty Projectors Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When I've heard enough from police and pretenders
When I'm ready for my whole world to open up and surrender
I'll look for you, I will be searching the garden and the street
I will look into the eyes of everyone, I meet
And when I finally find you, will I know?
Fluorescent half dome, fluorescent half dome, fluorescent half dome
Far beyond here, far removed from the sneering of the crowd
My eternal love sits smiling, sphinx-like and proud
Cross that disguise, I am glancing with needles in my eyes
Birds of infinity glisten, shimmering, for the rest of my life
And I conceived them, not what they mean
Fluorescent half dome, fluorescent half dome
Fluorescent half dome, fluorescent half dome
Fluorescent half dome, fluorescent half dome
Fluorescent half dome, fluorescent half dome
The lyrics of Dirty Projectors’ song Fluorescent Half Dome are an invitation for change and surrender. The singer has had enough from fake authority figures and is ready for a transformation. The song suggests that the singer will search for someone in the garden and the street, trying to find something or someone to help them break free from their current situation. The singer then wonders whether they will even recognize this elusive helper once they find them.
The lyrics then shift to a more abstract and surreal depiction of this transformation. There is a sense of being far away from the ordinary world and its judgmental and cynical gaze. Instead, the singer is in the presence of an eternal love that is “smiling, sphinx-like and proud”. The words become more cryptic as the singer is “glancing with needles in [their] eyes” at birds of infinity that “glisten, shimmering, for the rest of [their] life”. There is a strong suggestion that what is being experienced is more than just visual, and that it is the act of conceiving this new reality that has the most meaning.
The lyrics of Fluorescent Half Dome are dense and open to interpretation, but they convey a powerful sense of yearning for change and inspiration. The song seems to suggest that transformation is not a straightforward process and requires a journey both outward and inward to find what is needed to break free from what is holding us back.
Line by Line Meaning
When I've had enough,
When I am sick and tired of everything,
When I've heard enough from police and pretenders
When I am done listening to the noise of authority and fake people
When I'm ready for my whole world to open up and surrender
When I am willing to let go of control and let the world take over
I'll look for you, I will be searching the garden and the street
I will embark on a journey to find you, looking everywhere including the most unexpected places
I will look into the eyes of everyone I meet
I will scrutinize every person I come across, hoping to spot you
And when I finally find you, will I know?
I wonder if I will recognize you when I find you
Fluorescent half dome, fluorescent half dome, fluorescent half dome
The bright, shining half dome will guide me towards you
Far beyond here, far removed from the sneering of the crowd
In a distant, isolated place, away from the negativity and cynicism of society
My eternal love sits smiling, sphinx-like and proud
You, my everlasting beloved, sit proudly like the Sphinx, with a cryptic yet confident smile
Cross that disguise, I am glancing with needles in my eyes
I see through the mask you wear, looking at you with a penetrating stare
Birds of infinity glisten, shimmering for the rest of my life
The infinite birds sparkle and shine, adding to the beauty of my life forevermore
And I conceived them, not what they mean
I created these birds, but their meaning is beyond my understanding
Fluorescent half dome, fluorescent half dome
The radiant dome keeps shining, illuminating the path to you
Fluorescent half dome, fluorescent half dome
This brilliant half dome keeps calling me towards you
Fluorescent half dome, fluorescent half dome
The glowing dome continues to beacon me to your presence
Lyrics © DOMINO PUBLISHING COMPANY
Written by: DAVID DONNELL LONGSTRETH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind