Part of the X AVANT Festival, presented by The Music Gallery

Who says there are no second chances in life? When Dirty Projector, David Longstreth received his interview from Wavelength he took a long look, sniffed it a little and then -- as one might send back a plate of undercooked salmon at Sassafraz -- he said, 'œNo thank you.'? The Wavelength chefs scrambled to accommodate Longstreth's discerning palate, but all it took was a short-lived burst of effort from Jeff 'œI don't have time'? Wright, to get the job done. The Dirty Projectors are playing as part of the X-Avant Festival that's curated by The Music Gallery. They return to Toronto on October 20th, opening for Xiu Xiu at the El Mo. Band member Nat Baldwin also has a show of his own at the Tranzac on October 19th.

When I first saw you, you were playing solo, with an acoustic guitar and no mic. Now you're touring with a band. Do you prefer one to the other?

Of course they are very different. I just played a solo acoustic no-mic show last night, on a boat in Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. It was the first time in quite a while, and I actually loved it. With a band you can blow up harmony and rhythm, and make your imagination almost physically real. You can make music with social/organizational things, sharing and antagonism, disagreement and agreement. You can indicate the same stuff playing solo and the subtlety that I suppose it requires is what drew me to performing that way in the first place. But, you know, to be a boy playing an acoustic guitar and singing your own songs automatically engages you with things that you don't necessarily care about, like intimacy, beliefs, romanticism, personality. Particularly when you sing like I sometimes sing, people say crooning, playing solo really lends itself to misreading. It's true that part of dirty projecting is finding pleasure and creativity in misreading, but after a while the tension between the two became enervating rather than energizing. I've had more fun with a band recently.

You'll be coming back to Toronto a month or so after playing Wavelength, opening for Xiu Xiu. Any chance you might be playing by yourself on that tour, and how'd you get together for that tour?

For that tour, I'll have a band, although maybe I'll play a song or two alone. It's going to be pretty large: Charlie Looker from Zs is playing guitar, Amber Coffman from Sleeping People and her friend Susanna are singing and playing guitars and percussion, Brian McOmber is drumming, and Nat Baldwin is playing the bass. By the way, Nat is playing a show in Toronto on 9/19 at Tranzac '” everyone should go!

When you played here a couple years ago, there was a drunk girl in the audience who kept on shouting things out at you, and then you invited her up to sing a duet with you. I remember that as being really funny, but also as a really sweet moment. That's not a question, but just something I wanted to mention, I guess.

She was really drunk. Our interests were opposed in that particular situation, but I remember admiring her impatience. She was a good performer, too.

Your vocals are usually very crooner-esque. What attracts you to that kind of singing? It's not that common, at least not outside of stuff like Harry Connick Jr.

Yeah, I've always been mystified when this term 'crooner' gets applied to my singing. I think when men and boys sing melodies that have feminine attributes like tenderness, impulsiveness, wide arcs and leaps, etc. people tend to reach for the nearest signifier for "sensuality", which I guess is crooner. But my melodies are sensual in the way that a mountain is sensual '” impersonally. I don't listen to crooners. Smoldering masculinity is just not part of the vibe.

What's the worst question you've ever been asked by an interviewer? Was it, "Tell me about the dirtiest thing you've ever seen projected." Because I nearly died when I read the question, and would like to apologize to you on behalf of Wavelength for it.

That guy admitted that he hadn't heard my music. He was phoning it in presumably because this is his job, and being half-ass is what you do at a job. Being a musician is weird though, because your job is your life. There is no distinction. It's empowering and also kind of scary. Avoiding content probably seems more pernicious to me for that reason, but still, if we are having an interview, and it's going to get printed in a paper or on the internet or something, why just rehearse the same inanities? What's the point!? It's cool when people at least try to do something real.

By Jeff Wright