In
April 2009, Brandon Stosuy from Stereogum.com asked me if we wanted to play a
benefit concert at a bookstore in New York. I said yes. He
asked Björk the same thing, and she said yes. Then he asked us if we wanted to
collaborate, and we said yes. Björk
asked me what we should do, and I said, "I don't know, I guess I'd really
love to write a bunch of new songs for us to sing together?" And she said
Yes.
That
same month, Amber from Dirty Projectors was walking along a ridge on Mount
Wittenberg, north of San Francisco.
She was looking out at the ocean and saw a little family of whales, as
you sometimes do in April on the Northern California coast. I wrote some songs about it and sent
them to Björk, who agreed to sing the part of the mom whale. The songs became Mount Wittenberg
Orca. Amber and Angel and Haley
sang the part of the kid whales, and I sang the part of Amber. We sang all week long and learned the
music just in time to perform it at the bookstore on May 8th.
Then
our album Bitte Orca came out and we went on tour forever. We finally got a chance to record
Wittenberg last month, almost exactly a year after we first sang it. We went into the Rare Book Room in
Brooklyn and rehearsed it for three days, then we recorded it as quickly and as
live as possible. We only
overdubbed lead vocals and a guitar solo.
We've
decided to give away all the money that Wittenberg generates to the project of
creating international marine protected areas. Only 1% of the oceans are protected in any way and this is a
huge problem. We're working with
the National Geographic Society to create areas of sustainability, so the
oceans don't end up like a giant poisonous corpse hugging the continents. You can learn more about this project
here and here and here and here.
We're so psyched about how this recording came out and hope
you are too. Don't listen on those tinny computer speakers -- put in on the
stereo and blast dat shiiiiiiiiii!!
Enjoy
--
David Longstreth
(HERE and HERE and HERE and HERE links!)
