Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	80/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	A−
Entertainment Weekly	B
The Guardian
The Independent
Los Angeles Times
NME	7/10
Pitchfork Media	8.8/10
Rolling Stone
Spin	9/10

Swing Lo Magellan is the sixth studio album by American experimental rock group Dirty Projectors, which was released on Domino Records on July 10, 2012 in the United States and July 9, 2012 internationally.

The album cover features Dave Longstreth and Amber Coffman talking to one of their neighbors in Upstate New York, where Swing Lo Magellan was recorded. The photo was taken by Dave Longstreth's brother.

The album was written, recorded, produced and mixed by Dirty Projectors frontman Dave Longstreth in Delaware County, New York. Swing Lo Magellan recording sessions spanned a year and resulted in around 40 demos. The album was not recorded with Angel Deradoorian, who was on hiatus from the band.

Longstreth wanted Swing Lo Magellan to be a collection of individual songs instead of an album united by a single theme, unlike with previous albums. In addition, Longstreth sought to write more personal songs.

Swing Lo Magellan has been described as more "beats-driven" and more accessible than previous Dirty Projectors albums. For specific influences, critics and Longstreth himself have cited a variety of influences, ranging from popular music acts such as Nirvana, Lil Wayne, Michael Jackson, Neil Young, En Vogue and Blind Willie Johnson to classical music composers such as Arnold Schoenberg and György Ligeti.

Swing Lo Magellan's first single, "Gun Has No Trigger", was released on March 30, 2012 and was selected as a Best New Track by Pitchfork Media on April 2. On June 8, 2012, a music video for "Gun Has No Trigger" was released. The music video was visually influenced by Apple Inc.'s iPod commercials and by the default profile images used on Facebook and Gmail. On June 14, 2012, a second song from the album, "Dance for You," was released online.Swing Lo Magellan was streamed in its entirety on July 2, 2012.

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