Dirty Projectors

Dave Longstreth isn’t the first artist to turn soured romance into art. There’s an extra sting to this break-up record though: his ex is former bandmate Amber Coffman and the absence of her soothing vocals haunts hurting opener “Keep Your Name”. Longstreth’s honesty and emotion is striking but his artful pop and R&B is prettiest when recalling happier times over glimmering keys and strings (“Little Bubble”) and on “Cool Your Heart”’s glitchy reggae (co-penned with Solange).