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Nov 11, 2009 By Michele Yamamoto Photography by Michele Yamamoto Dirty Projectors

By 7:15, the line for the Dirty Projectors rounded the corner of Sunset and Logan in Echo Park. Trick-or-treaters passed close to costumed Projectors fans until the sidewalk was a moving Halloween confusion. Slowly, the line disappeared into the red-lit hallway—guided by a cautious pope—and descended upon bowls of candy and, of course, a stage neatly nestled in a modern space. The white walls of the Rec Center Studio drew all eyes to the colorful characters on the floor (my personal favorite: a bold man dressed as Honey, I Shrunk the Kids’ Wayne Szalinski, replete with magnifying class hovering in front of thick-rimmed glasses).

But nothing quite arrested the crowd’s attention like the six-piece of the evening—Dirty Projectors in full costume. Opening with their new song, “Ascending Melody,” the set unfolded through jangling guitars, colorful vocal harmonies, and mellow island-inspired rhythms.

The band’s set evoked comparisons to Grizzly Bear in their ethereal vocal harmonies, but Dave Longstreth’s approach offsets the comparisons. His free melodies kept the Projectors’ set light on its feet, even for these familiar with the songs. The three lovely ladies in the band drew admiration from the crowd in their seamless blending and complex melodic lines, including tricky exchanges, as they played through most of Bitte Orca.

Being the first of two performances the Projectors had planned for the night, the set struck me as all too short as they filed offstage, even with the encore. However, a show ending before 10 p.m. will bring on that sort of unease. As I left, walking through the crowds in the alley, I saw the next line beginning to form along Logan and could only wonder and envy the crowd for what that second show might bring.