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This space has been silent lately, but its not because I haven’t been up to some cool things. In fact in the past few weeks I’ve seen some very special shows.

On Friday, May 8th I had the rare (and possibly once-in-a-lifetime) chance to catch Icelandic wonderwoman Björk perform with Brooklyn’s amazing Dirty Projectors at the Housing Works Bookstore Cafe in Manhattan. It was, as you might expect, quite a magical night. The venue’s capacity of around 300 made for a unique an intimate experience, and a stellar opening lineup, which featured Kurt Weisman (chosen by the DPs) and Ólöf Arnalds, rounded things out perfectly.

After Kurt displayed his delicately spindled folk tunes and Ólöf charmed everyone into an ecstatic mood with sing-a-longs and covers of Björk’s “Unravel” and Caetano Veloso’s “Maria Bethania,” the Dirty Projectors took the stage and effortlessly executed a batch of songs from their forthcoming album Bitte Orca.

Then DP frontman David Longstreth introduced the suite of songs that he had composed for the night, tentatively called “Mount Wittenberg Orca” after a distant whale-spotting by his bandmate Amber Coffman, and welcomed Björk to the stage. Longstreth and Björk traded off lead parts over the course of the six songs while Amber, Angel Deradoorian, and Haley Dekle provided astounding harmonies.

The night’s climax was short and sweet, but, as organizer Brandon Stosuy reminded the crowd when announcing that there would be no encore, the collaboration was a powerful and exhausting one. Björk’s vocal parts, though brief, soared and mingled magnificently with Amber, Angel and Haley. Longstreth’s songwriting astounded with its mixture of crystalline clarity and thoughtful complexity. As the stage cleared and many necks rested from straining for a view in the awkward-shaped venue, it was natural to hope that things would go (as the group sang in their first tune) “on and on and on and ever onward.” But, like Amber’s brief encounter with the orca, such an intimate and moving night could only last for so long.

More photos after the jump.

Björk belting it.

Longstreth caught up in a tune.

Ólöf Arnalds

Kurt Weisman