David Longstreth is the guest on the latest episode of the podcast Beginnings with Andy Beckerman to discuss his early life and influences, following the recent release of his Song of the Earth, performed by Longstreth with his band Dirty Projectors and the Berlin-based chamber ensemble s t a r g a z e. "It's fantastic!" Beckerman says of the album. You can hear their conversation below via Spotify and Apple Podcasts:

Song of the Earth, a song cycle for orchestra and voices, is performed on the album by Longstreth with his band Dirty Projectors—Felicia Douglass, Maia Friedman, Olga Bell—and s t a r g a z e. The album also features Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie), Steve Lacy, Patrick Shiroishi, Anastasia Coope, Tim Bernardes, Ayoni, Portraits of Tracy, and the author David Wallace-Wells. Longstreth says that while Song of the Earth—his biggest-yet foray into the field of concert music—"is not a ‘climate change opera,’” he wanted to “find something beyond sadness: beauty spiked with damage. Acknowledgement flecked with hope, irony, humor, rage.” You can hear the album and get it here.