Useful Chamber

This was a track taken from Brooklyn-based indie rock band Dirty Projectors' first album for Domino Records.

Pitchfork.com asked singer/guitarist Dave Longstreth about the meaning of the album title, Bitte Orca. He replied: "The word "bitte" is just a German word for "please," and "orca" is the carnivorous whale. And I guess you know, there's not really a literal meaning to draw out of the phrase. But I like the way the words sound together. I feel like there's some kind of sense just in the relation between the two. Sort of like, 'Please Please Me' or something. There's a part that's sort of gentle, and supple, and then there's a part that's barbed, and demanding. 'Bitte' is a polite word, but it's sharp."

Pitchfork.com commented to Longstreth that whilst the words on one of this track's verses is very heart-on-sleeve and emotionally forthright, in the chorus he's shouting, "Bitte orca." The interviewer then suggested that as the music becomes joyful, the lyrics are unclear, which almost feels like an evasion. Longstreth responded: "I see what you're saying. But on the other hand, just getting back to the vibe of that phrase, lyrically, it's just the sense of the words become aural rather than literal. I guess I don't think of it as dodging and weaving in terms of coherence, or you know, like as you were saying, emotional forthrightness. But yeah, one of the beautiful things about music is how simple and direct a line of communication it is. And I guess what I want to do, and what we want to do, is try to make music that feels good, and feels expressive - even as it does so in a new vocabulary."