Destroyer | ||
| Allmusic Biography : Dan Bejar started Destroyer as a solo project in Vancouver in 1995. His first album, Well Build Them a Golden Bridge, was an electric folk record, setting the stage for the early Bowie comparisons that were certain to follow his particular vocal style. In 1998, Bejar added a rhythm section and took it into the studio for the first time. The resulting recording, City of Daughters, was a sparsely produced collection of catchy pop songs in which Bejars increasingly obtuse lyrics really started to stand out. Thief, again recorded in Vancouver, was released in 2000, but by then the lineup had expanded into a quintet. The sparse production and the Bowie comparisons remained, but Bejars cryptic lyrics and unique voice gave this rant against the music industry an original quality that stood out from many of that years releases. In the meantime, Bejar, along with Carl Newman of Zumpano, was one of the songwriters responsible for the much-acclaimed New Pornographers debut, Mass Romantic (Mint Records), released that same year. In 2001, Destroyers fourth album, Streethawk: A Seduction, picked up right where Thief left off. His next release, 2002s This Night, was an oblique and melodic album that portrayed Bejar as a ranting, depressed singer. It marked his first record for Merge. Arguably his quirkiest material yet was captured on 2004s Your Blues. Bejar collaborated with touring partners Frog Eyes on 2005s Notorious Lightning and Other Works, a six-track EP containing re-recorded versions of material from Your Blues with Frog Eyes as the backing band. He also contributed three songs to the New Pornographers critically acclaimed Top 50 album Twin Cinema and spent the better part of that year on tour with the Canadian supergroup. February 2006 saw the release of Destroyers Rubies, a return to the guitar-based sound of This Night with a touch of Streethawk-era drama. After devoting some more time to the New Pornographers, Swan Lake, and a collaboration with visual artist Sydney Vermont called Hello, Blue Roses, Bejar returned to the sanctuary of his solo project and released his eighth record, Trouble in Dreams, in March of 2008. The following year saw Swan Lakes second outing, Enemy Mine, as well as the ambient Bay of Pigs EP (Destroyer). He contributed three tracks to the New Pornographers fifth studio album, 2010s Together, before releasing 2011s Kaputt, his ninth LP under the Destroyer moniker and first to appear on the Billboard 200. In 2013, Bejar issued the Five Spanish Songs EP, which featured material written by Spanish musician Antonio Luque of the band Sr. Chinarro. The following summer brought the well-received sixth New Pornographers record, Brill Bruisers, which included three Bejar-penned tunes. A second Hello, Blue Roses album appeared in February 2015 (WZO), and Destroyers strings- and horns-imbued, New York-themed epic, Poison Season, followed that summer. It returned the project to the Billboard 200. In the spring of 2017, the New Pornographers released their first LP without Bejar (Whiteout Conditions). Appropriating the original title of Suedes song "The Wild Ones," Destroyer emerged that fall with Ken. | ||
 | Album: 1 of 13 Title: Well Build Them a Golden Bridge Released: 1996-07-16 Tracks: 16 Duration: 36:02 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Revolution (01:15) 2 J. Tailor (02:44) 3 Smith (01:11) 4 I, as McCarthy (02:01) 5 Mending Song (01:08) 6 Leave Little Fiddler (04:05) 7 The Pornographers (00:57) 8 War on Jazz (02:59) 9 Islands in the Stream (01:31) 10 Saddestroyer (03:15) 11 Streets of Fire (01:50) 12 Rose Fleched This (03:27) 13 Breakin the Law (02:38) 14 Whistlin Dixie (03:08) 15 Riota (01:33) 16 Knowing When to Leave (02:12) |
 | Album: 2 of 13 Title: City of Daughters Released: 1998 Tracks: 17 Duration: 38:34 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Comments on the World as Will (00:56) 2 No Cease Fires! (Crimes Against the State of Our Love, Baby) (03:30) 3 The Space Race (02:22) 4 Dark Purposes (02:15) 5 Emax I (01:46) 6 I Want This Cyclops (03:13) 7 Loves of a Gnostic (02:38) 8 Emax II (00:57) 9 State of the Union (01:17) 10 School, and the Girls Who Go There (02:51) 11 Melanie and Jennifer and Melanie (03:58) 12 War on Jazz (01:54) 13 Emax III (00:59) 14 You Were So Cruel (03:34) 15 Signs (00:47) 16 Rereading the Marble Faun (03:15) 17 Son of the Earth (02:12) |
| City of Daughters : Allmusic album Review : Originally released in 1998 (and reissued on Merge in 2010), City of Daughters was Dan Bejar’s first foray into Destroyer mode. While it may lack the apocalyptic Ziggy Stardust panache of Streethawk: A Seduction (or to a lesser extent, Thief), it provides a wide open window to the artist’s metamorphosis from bedroom bard to Dadaist-indie poet laureate. Without all of the signature Destroyer flourishes ("lie lies" "la las" and choice "guitarmonies") Bejar’s clever wordplay feels even more surreal (tracks like “I Want This Cyclops” and “You Were so Cruel” point a longer finger at Syd Barrett than they do David Bowie). Like all Destroyer records, it requires more than a couple of spins to draw you in, but it rewards that patience with an endlessly inventive collection of serpentine melodies peppered with the kind of darkly funny, stream-of-consciousness refrigerator poetry that has come to define Bejars nom de plume, and while there are a handful of cuts like “No Cease Fires! (Crimes Against the State of Our Love, Baby)”, “School and the Girls Who Go There,” and “Space Race” that lay the foundation for future recordings, City of Daughters is a stark town populated with hopeless eccentrics, which is probably just how Bejar likes it. | ||
 | Album: 3 of 13 Title: Thief Released: 2000-09 Tracks: 13 Duration: 43:33 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Destroyers the Temple (04:43) 2 To the Heart of the Sun on the Back of the Vulture, Ill Go (03:52) 3 The Way of Perpetual Roads (03:52) 4 Canadian Lover / Falcons Escape (03:19) 5 City of Daughters (02:29) 6 Every Christmas (03:29) 7 Mercy (We Had the Right) (05:27) 8 Queen of Languages (03:31) 9 I.H.O.J. (01:47) 10 In Dreams (03:24) 11 Death on the Festival Circuit (03:15) 12 M.E.R.C.I. (01:57) 13 Thief (02:25) |
| Thief : Allmusic album Review : That a record with such a plug-ugly cover would house such beautifully melodic pop is just one of the many contradictions that propel Destroyers Thief; anthemic yet understated, honeyed yet acerbic, its first and foremost a collection of piano ballads that possesses absolutely none of the sentimentality and romanticism that the style almost uniformly engenders. Though Daniel Bejars adenoidal vocals recall Robyn Hitchcock and his superbly arranged melodies evoke early Bowie, hes nevertheless a complete original: his arch lyrics -- equal parts social commentary and stand-up comedy -- are consistently superb, and his songs ebb and flow with cabaret-like flair. Reveling in a kind of corrupted gentility, Thief is by turns playful and malicious -- sophistication at its most scabrous. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 13 Title: Streethawk: A Seduction Released: 2001-04-26 Tracks: 12 Duration: 43:59 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Streethawk I (02:26) 2 The Bad Arts (07:01) 3 Beggars Might Ride (02:45) 4 The Sublimation Hour (04:12) 5 English Music (03:35) 6 Virgin With a Memory (02:40) 7 The Very Modern Dance (03:13) 8 The Crossover (05:03) 9 Helena (03:45) 10 Farrar, Straus & Giroux (Sea of Tears) (03:47) 11 Strike (02:59) 12 Streethawk II (02:28) |
| Streethawk: A Seduction : Allmusic album Review : Destroyer has rightfully been compared to early-70s David Bowie due to the bands fey, British-sounding pop/rock with pretty keyboard passages, attractive folky acoustic strums, and assertive, fluid electric guitar riffs. Streethawk: A Seduction does nothing to counteract that comparison, particularly when you get to "The Sublimation Hour," which is such an accurate amalgam/facsimile of the Hunky Dory era that it might pass for an outtake if Bowie did the vocals. Not a bad role model to take, it must be admitted, and actually not an overdone one, despite its eminence in the pop consciousness. The most problematic aspects, then, are Daniel Bejars vocals, which dont match Bowies in strength or nuance. Sometimes there are shades of Lou Reed as well, though that might be secondhand since everyone knows how heavily Reed influenced Bowie. It might work better if Bejar took a songwriting role and had someone else sing. The lyrics are playful, occasionally observational-ironic, and more oblique than Bowies, which is saying something as Bowie could be pretty oblique. So its derivative and inferior to the king of this particular hill. But those reservations aside its decent music and certainly well-crafted, skillfully varying the moods with a range of subtle, understated arrangements that retain a rock foundation. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 13 Title: This Night Released: 2002-10-07 Tracks: 15 Duration: 1:08:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 This Night (05:57) 2 Holly Going Lightly (05:08) 3 Here Comes the Night (06:35) 4 The Chosen Few (03:59) 5 Makin Angels (04:14) 6 Hey, Snow White (07:54) 7 Modern Painters (03:00) 8 Crystal Country (03:44) 9 Trembling Peacock (04:15) 10 I Have Seen a Light (05:06) 11 Students Carve Hearts Out of Coal (03:46) 12 Goddess of Drought (03:31) 13 Self Portrait With Thing (Tonight Is Not Your Night) (06:26) 14 The Relevant Ballads (00:37) 15 The Night Moves (03:48) |
| This Night : Allmusic album Review : This Night is a sometimes-fragile, sometimes-bombastic folk-rock record that plays like early-70s Bowie jamming with Bright Eyes. Daniel Bejars bittersweet songwriting and the sparkling production match his Dylan wordplay, earthy strumming, and crunchy, skyward electric guitar riffs to establish This Night solidly as Destroyers Hunky Dory. From "Holly Going Lightly" -- an indie rock tune of operatic proportions and utter levity -- to the dark, "The Bewlay Brothers"-meets-Calexico "The Chosen Few," its clear that this comparison would sit perfectly well with Bejar. And so what if he takes his influences so seriously? Bowie fans have been waiting for another Hunky Dory since 1972. Destroyers This Night follows through on that wish without ever being a simple sound-alike and, in the process, adds a welcome dose of Grandaddy, the criminally underrated Television Personalites, and even some good old Lou Reed rock. "Snow White" is the most cryptic and downright moving hat-tip to "Sweet Jane" and Reeds favorite state of being ("Hey, Snow White/Its gonna be alright") and one of the most zoned-out, uncomplicated, and gratifying rock tunes of the year. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 13 Title: Your Blues Released: 2004-03-08 Tracks: 12 Duration: 46:18 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Notorious Lightning (05:57) 2 Its Gonna Take an Airplane (03:41) 3 An Actors Revenge (02:57) 4 The Music Lovers (04:22) 5 From Oakland to Warsaw (03:11) 6 Your Blues (02:57) 7 New Ways of Living (04:23) 8 Dont Become the Thing You Hated (02:13) 9 Mad Foxes (04:45) 10 The Fox and the Hound (03:23) 11 What Road (03:57) 12 Certain Things You Ought to Know (04:25) |
| Your Blues : Allmusic album Review : Recorded with the production duo JC/DC (aka David Carswell and John Collins) -- who aided in the creation of Destroyers first three discs -- Dan Bejar ditches the band format he used for 2002s This Night with tremendous results. Fusing a dramatic vocal style akin to that of David Bowie in the 1970s with 1980s studio achievers like Microdisney and Prefab Sprout, Your Blues is regularly breathtaking. Launched with the strummed guitar of "Notorious Lightning," Behar soon expands on his vision with the bright, synth-conceived orchestration of "An Actors Revenge" and the fabulous, adventurous pop of "The Music Lovers." Sure, the long a cappella intro on the title cut is hard to take, but Destroyers records are never without a challenge or two. Still, Behar quickly redeems himself with the tongue-in-cheek "New Ways of Living," which pokes fun at mid-80s pop drama queens with lyrical and musical finesse. The flute-laced "Its Gonna Take an Airplane" is the high point here, with lyrics like "Baby, you were born to be seen/And arts just the start," but late-model standouts like the Hunky Dory-inspired "What Road" and the haunting closer, "Certain Things You Ought to Know," all help make Your Blues 2004s early front-runner for art rock album of the year. | ||
 | Album: 7 of 13 Title: Notorious Lightning and Other Works Released: 2005-01-25 Tracks: 6 Duration: 27:31 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Notorious Lightning (09:51) 2 New Ways of Living (03:21) 3 The Music Lovers (04:41) 4 An Actors Revenge (02:57) 5 Dont Become the Thing You Hated (03:07) 6 Your Blues (03:32) |
 | Album: 8 of 13 Title: Destroyer’s Rubies Released: 2006-02-21 Tracks: 10 Duration: 53:49 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Rubies (09:25) 2 Your Blood (04:15) 3 European Oils (04:54) 4 Painter in Your Pocket (04:10) 5 Looters’ Follies (07:26) 6 3000 Flowers (03:46) 7 A Dangerous Woman Up to a Point (06:02) 8 Priest’s Knees (03:08) 9 Watercolours Into the Ocean (04:46) 10 Sick Priest Learns to Last Forever (05:53) |
| Destroyer’s Rubies : Allmusic album Review : Supporters of Destroyer mastermind Dan Bejar have been regaled with enough material over the previous two years to keep even the smallest fan site busy. Between the New Pornographers 2005 Bejar-heavy Twin Cinema and the Destroyer/Frog Eyes EP Notorious Lightning and Other Works, the hyper-literate, Bowie-loving Canadian has been on a roll. Destroyers Rubies, his fifth full-length offering, is an amalgam of Streethawk: A Seductions glam rock posturing, This Nights guitar-heavy psychedelia, and Your Blues apocalyptic wordplay. Bejars imagery is as impenetrable and volatile as ever -- "Dueling cyclones jackknife/They got eyes for your wife and the blood that lives in her heart" -- but musically, hes forged a solid enough foundation to ground it. Part of Bejars charm comes from his innate ability to balance sadistic verse, music geek grandstanding, and bawdy refrains with enough major seventh chords to score a full season of Brady Bunch segues -- "A Dangerous Woman Up to a Point"s pre-chorus crescendo declares "Those who love Zeppelin will eventually betray Floyd/I cast off those couplets in honor of the void" before exploding into "I pictured heaven on earth made of clay, as your form dictated." Rubies is heavy on pop craft, with standout cuts like "European Oils," "3000 Flowers," and the manic title track echoing 2005s "Broken Breads" and "Streets of Fire," but its more than just the art-house theater to the Pornographers Twin Cinema, its the absinthe-drunk projectionist reveling in the sheer hedonism of it all. | ||
 | Album: 9 of 13 Title: Trouble in Dreams Released: 2008-03-17 Tracks: 11 Duration: 52:59 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Blue Flower/Blue Flame (03:23) 2 Dark Leaves Form a Thread (03:35) 3 The State (03:58) 4 Foam Hands (03:50) 5 My Favorite Year (06:07) 6 Shooting Rockets (From the Desk of Nights Ape) (07:59) 7 Introducing Angels (03:44) 8 Rivers (05:14) 9 Leopard of Honor (05:32) 10 Plaza Trinidad (03:33) 11 Libbys First Sunrise (05:59) |
| Trouble in Dreams : Allmusic album Review : Dan Bejar must have gotten used to the full-band sound he explored on Destroyers last album, 2006s Destroyers Rubies and the touring that followed, because Trouble in Dreams presents an even more completely realized version of that (all but Scott Morgan returned from Rubies), full of strings and drums and horns, changing time signatures and soaring background vocals. Bejar has also come to realize, at least some of the time, that a good, strong melody can help bring together what otherwise could be an ornately shambolic mess of nonsensical allusions and phrases and chord changes. Take the first single, "Foam Hands," for example. The lyrics are as abstract as always ("I didnt know what time it was at all/Foam Hands"), but because the instrumental and vocal lines return, setting it up in more traditional pop structure, the song is more digestible, and honestly, more enjoyable because of it. Thats not to say that the elements that have won Destroyer so many fans are lacking. Bejars faux-accented voice is in fine form here (although he gets slightly carried away in "Plaza Trinidad," where he cant seem to decide if hes channeling Bowie or Dylan, and sounds a bit silly because of it), witty and romantic and complicated. "Shooting Rockets" is in fact a cleaner remake of the Swan Lake song, dramatic and eloquent, "The State" is an energetic, blues-rock-influenced tune that allows Bejar the space to even yell a bit, and the closer, "Libbys First Sunrise" plays on the more straightforward adult rock sound that permeates Trouble in Dreams, turning it into something quite lovely, what Jeremy Enigk meant to do on World Waits but couldnt quite pull off. There are some missteps here: besides the aforementioned "Plaza Trinidad," the title phrase from "Introducing Angels" is half-whispered just a little too poignantly, the individual syllables accented just a little too clearly, and make Bejar sound like hes trying much too hard to be emotional and romantic, and "Leopard of Honor" crosses into the Burt Bacharach/yacht-rock territory without much uniqueness or apology. But on Trouble in Dreams, Bejar and Destroyer have also shown that they can continue to write both the literate, complex songs they and their audience love and expand and explore new melodic territory successfully. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 13 Title: Kaputt Released: 2011-01-25 Tracks: 9 Duration: 50:07 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Chinatown (03:49) 2 Blue Eyes (04:07) 3 Savage Night at the Opera (04:23) 4 Suicide Demo for Kara Walker (08:25) 5 Poor in Love (03:26) 6 Kaputt (06:17) 7 Downtown (03:51) 8 Song for America (04:28) 9 Bay of Pigs (detail) (11:17) |
| Kaputt : Allmusic album Review : Shape-shifting Canadian pop craftsman Daniel Bejars ninth studio album under the Destroyer moniker added a whole lot of Bryan Ferry to a pot already boiling over with copious amounts of Bowie, Dylan, and T. Rex. Bejars predilection for pairing Oscar Wilde-inspired, semi-apocalyptic witticisms with glam-kissed, minor-seventh retro pop remained intact, but where previous outings like This Night and Streethawk: A Seduction mined the 70s for inspiration, 2011s Kaputt utilizes 80s sophisti-pop, New Romantic, Northern soul, and straight-up adult contemporary to deliver a flawed but fascinating record. Like Goldfrapps divisive, 2010 retro dance-pop tribute Head First, Kaputt is fully committed to its cause, wrapping everything up in a pristine, immaculately produced biosphere that’s filled to the brim with twinkling synths, soft rock drums, and enough wailing trumpets and saxophones to out-mellow Kenny G, David Sanborn, and Dave Koz combined. Ever the well-read, secretly pleased malcontent (“I write poetry for myself”), Bejar sounds more comfortable in this new disguise than he does on his more troubadour-oriented projects, as if producing the soundtrack for a discotheque with a capacity of one was his intention all along. His epic 11-minute, 2009 single “Bay of Pigs,” which he described at the time as “ambient disco,” could hardly serve as a more fitting conclusion to Kaputt, as it more than lives up to its creator’s boast. “Suicide Demo for Kara Walker,” “Song for America,” “Chinatown,” all of which skillfully tread water between the urbane intellectualism of Donald Fagan or Momus and the quiet, technical nihilism of Talk Talk, differ very little from the remaining six cuts, which may cause fans of his more adventurous work some fits, but there’s no denying their icy, coke-fueled 2:00 A.M. elegance. | ||
 | Album: 11 of 13 Title: Five Spanish Songs Released: 2013-11-25 Tracks: 5 Duration: 19:31 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Maria de las Nieves (04:49) 2 Del montón (02:32) 3 El rito (03:36) 4 Babieca (05:34) 5 Bye Bye (03:00) |
 | Album: 12 of 13 Title: Poison Season Released: 2015-08-28 Tracks: 13 Duration: 52:19 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Times Square, Poison Season I (02:33) 2 Dream Lover (03:48) 3 Forces from Above (05:51) 4 Hell Is an Open Door (03:17) 5 The River (03:35) 6 Girl in a Sling (03:04) 7 Times Square (04:11) 8 Archer on the Beach (04:56) 9 Midnight Meet the Rain (03:24) 10 Solaces Bride (03:43) 11 Bangkok (05:14) 12 Sun in the Sky (05:33) 13 Times Square, Poison Season II (03:02) |
| Poison Season : Allmusic album Review : The first full-length Destroyer release since 2011s charting Kaputt -- with the Antonio Luque-penned Five Spanish Songs EP, and his bands the New Pornographers and Hello, Blue Roses Brill Bruisers and WZO, respectively, dropping in the interim -- 2015s Poison Season marks prolific songsmith Dan Bejars tenth LP with the project, and its an intensely wistful, strings- and horns-washed epic exploration of New York city life. At nearly an hour in length, it feels immense, but more so from its unexpectedly cinematic stylings than from playing time -- with rotating, scene-setting arrangements (rock, jazz, chamber music) and beat-poetic narrative vignettes of a gritty reality seemingly from another time, or another mind. The string ensemble arrangements on the sparse opener, "Times Square, Poison Season I," proclaim yet another change in texture between albums for Bejar. Its a dramatically haunting, impressionistic, talky piece that could serve as an opening to an ominous musical, with lyrics like "The writing on the wall wasnt writing at all/Just forces of nature in love with a weather station," and later "You can follow a rose wherever it grows/Oh, you could fall in love with Times Square." Traces of Kaputts sophisti-pop linger in the horns, piano, and delicate, extended guitar chords of "The River," on the tender "Solaces Bride," and on the sultry, jazzy "Archer on the Beach," but Poison Season stands alone thus far in Destroyers catalog. Track highlights include the rocking "Dream Lover" that blasts Lou Reeds New York ("All the signs are saying This Way"), the 70s crime show theme-invaded "Midnight Meet the Rain," and the three versions of "Times Square" (chamber music, 70s Bowie/Springsteen/Reed, chamber music), though the album really is a whole best heard by its submitted design. Theatrical songs, like the expansive "Forces from Above" -- with strings, synth noises, Latin percussion, a full drum kit passage, soaring, atmospheric saxophone, and Bejars fragile near-whisper -- and the bouncy yet intensely forlorn "Hell" ("Baby, its dumb. Look at what Ive become - scum. A relic. A satellite") create lush snapshots within a steamy street mosaic. Co-produced by frequent Destroyer and New Pornographers collaborator David Carswell, theres no new mastermind involved here, just the bewildering Bejar, and nearly 20 years on, Destroyer is still as surprising and inspired as ever. "I got paid and then I wrote a song. I got paid and then I rode a song into the heavens." | ||
 | Album: 13 of 13 Title: ken Released: 2017-10-20 Tracks: 11 Duration: 39:42 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Sky’s Grey (04:05) 2 In the Morning (03:16) 3 Tinseltown Swimming in Blood (04:46) 4 Cover From the Sun (02:13) 5 Saw You at the Hospital (03:30) 6 A Light Travels Down the Catwalk (03:07) 7 Rome (05:01) 8 Sometimes in the World (02:34) 9 Ivory Coast (04:48) 10 Stay Lost (02:21) 11 La Règle du jeu (04:01) |
| ken : Allmusic album Review : Dan Bejars 11th Destroyer LP arrives six months after the New Pornographers released their first album without him (April 2017s Whiteout Conditions). Busy preparing his follow-up to 2015s Poison Season, the songwriter instead turned all attention to Ken. The title doesnt refer to a person, but rather the original title of the Suede classic "The Wild Ones." Bejar didnt offer much in the way of explanation for the choice other than that the 1994 song comes from a time "when music first really came at me like a sickness." Sparer than the epic Poison Season but still recorded with members of his band, if in a more piecemeal manner, Ken takes on a synth-heavy post-punk complexion. Acknowledging a worldview that references places like Berlin, Barcelona, Vancouver, and Rome, the album seems to make oblique allusions to the sociopolitical tensions of the period on tracks like the melancholy opener, "Skys Grey." Anxious, helicopter-like pulses and claves lead into a cinematic sophisti-pop that unleashes midway through the song. Its lyrics include remarks like "Bombs in the city/Plays in the sticks" and "Ive been working on the new Oliver Twist." He presents a more Bowie-like rock on "In the Morning" and an ominous, pulsing synth pop on "A Light Travels Down the Catwalk." In true Bejar fashion, "I cant pay for this, all Ive got is money" opens "Sometimes in the World." It dispenses cautionary maxims through passages of heavy guitar distortion and sleeker moments of acoustic guitar and synths. Taken together, his typical existential outlook combined with a heavier presence of New Order-like industrial timbres make this a somewhat darker album, but still delightfully Destroyer. | ||