Swing Lo Magellan is already being touted as the most "accessible" Dirty Projectors album to date, but the fact remains: if you found the group's self-conscious stylistic idiosyncrasies maddening, and Dave Longstreth's pained, precious vocals off-putting before, you ain't gonna like 'em now.

Still, if you're a fan, or at least on the fence, Magellan is a collection of likable-enough tunes, from opener "Offspring Are Blank," which re-appropriates Nirvana-style soft/loud in electrifying fashion, to "About to Die," a song that features an instantly classic hook from Longstreth and his ubiquitous female backing vocalists.

About those ladies: they are all over this record. Led by the talented Amber Coffman, their voices often seem to float up out of nowhere—disembodied angels; vast, vaporous swarms of luminous fog. Another thing that's all over Swing Lo Magellan? Beats. All kinds of thick, rhythmic action. Longstreth has said that the album was inspired by artists like Lil Wayne, and though there ain't no Bangladesh bangers here, there is a definite hip-hop vibe afoot on many of the tracks.

But Dirty Projectors remain set in a staunchly "indie" framework, a fact that works to the band's benefit and, well, not. Still, underneath all the precocious, unnecessarily intricate trappings lies some pretty great pop music. It's worth it to dig in and enjoy.