Dirty Projectors and Bjork Release Whale-Inspired EP

New York art-pop act Dirty Projectors have released their first set of new material since last year's critically acclaimed long player, 'Bitte Orca.' Billed as 'Mount Wittenberg Orca,' the seven-song set is a collaborative effort with Iceland's favorite art-pop star, Bjork. Their relationship grew out of a one-off charity show they teamed up for in May 2009, where Dirty Projectors' mastermind David Longstreth wrote original pieces to debut in front of a small audience.

Just before the live debut thought, they logged time at Brooklyn's Rare Book Room studios, rehearsing for three days then recording the seven compositions as fast as possible, using overdubs for lead vocals and solos only.

The album's inspiration comes from two instances: a run-in with whales and conversations Longstreth had with Bjork about Italian theatres in the 1500s. "[Vocalist] Amber [Coffman] was walking along a ridge on Mount Wittenberg, north of San Francisco," Longstreth said in a statement on the album's microsite. "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."

Bjork fans can rest easy, knowing that she's prominently featured on the tracks 'On and Ever Onward,' the jazzy 'Sharing Orb' and the album's winding closer, 'All We Are,' a duet with Longstreth, with the Dirty Projector ladies hovering in the background with airy harmonies.

After a relentless touring schedule in 2009 in support of 'Bitte Orca,' 2010 doesn't seem like it's slowing down for Dirty Projectors. They lent their vocal talents to the new Roots album, 'How I Got Over,' covered Bob Dylan for Levi's and brought 2005's 'The Getty Address' to life in London, and now the band has announced another coast-to-coast fall tour, kicking off Sept. 7 at Washington D.C.'s 9:30 Club.

'Mount Wittenberg Orca' is available now as a digital download, with all proceeds going to the National Geographic Society Ocean Initiative.