Send "Destroyer " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Sputnikmusic |
 Smooth jazz, soft-rock disco, and 80’s new wave are volatile genres to be playing with if you’re Dan Bejar (or, anybody for that matter). If you were to poll the average Destroyer fan regarding their favourite genres, these three wouldn’t exactly be popular choices. The reasons are obvious: all three contain some of the worst music of their respective eras. But before I instill fears of Kenny G and music videos on boats with cheesy saxophone solos, let me remind you that this is Dan Bejar. Destroyer has never been your typical band and Bejar not your typical front man. Not that they are particularly weird or avant-garde, no, but they’ve always managed to find an edge to their music. Even earlier releases like Streethawks: A Seduction, when Destroyer was mainly a bedroom pop act, Bejar did it his way--mostly because we were still a few years off from that particular style becoming the “in” thing. Essentially the band has always been able to fully inhabit a sound to make it their own. Why the self-described “European Blues” of Destroyer’s Rubies feels so authentic is because Bejar captures a self-reflexive world with his referential melodies and even more referential, labyrinthine lyrics. These edges always manage to take the listener into unexpected territories by mapping out cultural, thematic, and narrative landmarks.In so many words, Bejar is a musical academic. So when Trouble in Dreams dropped a couple of years back, it was met with mixed critical and commercial responses. Not because it was a bad record, and it certainly wasn’t received poorly, but because it felt like Bejar was stasis. Perhaps it was us, the listeners’ fault, by placing too much expectation on the group. In fact it was somewhat of a disservice to a group as talented as Destroyer to write off Trouble in Dreams as a “good” but not “great” album; but people are fickle, and them kids live in the moment with their MTV and their purple stuff. Then the Bay of Pigs EP dropped and suddenly there was a new found anticipation towards a full length Destroyer release. A small buzz of hype was building, giving renewed kinetic energy to the brand. There was a reason to talk about Destroyer again with the same excitement and hype that circulated around the internet prior to the release of Rubies. There was an anticipatory movement, if reserved, hovering around the prospects of a 2011 release. And here it is: Kaputt....full text |
| Consequenceofsound |
| Dan Bejar has been producing records under the Destroyer moniker for the better part of the past decade and a half. When he’s not resurrecting his role as a fringe member of the New Pornographers, he’s generally at work on some new collection with which he’ll further convey his complex ideas on love, or at least his refutation of the world’s simplistic understanding of love. His lyrics are spiteful yet enchanted, discouraged yet awestruck, riddled with pop-culture references and garnished with dozens of assorted female names. He usually sings them in his nasally, Bowie-infused snarl, occasionally rattling his dense words off in a quick fire succession over a flurry of layered guitars (both electric and acoustic) in accordance with some multi-dimensional, intermittently jaunty song structure. With Kaputt, a record whose name reflects a strange sense of culmination or conclusion (though he’s admitted it’s a reference to a book he’s never read by Italian author Curzio Malaparte), a lot of the ideas Bejar’s only toyed with in the past–left in the periphery of what Destroyer was really all about–are propelled to the forefront in such a fresh manner that it feels like the beginning of a completely new stylistic saga for Bejar’s solo vehicle. No jaunts are to be found here. Instead, it’s that sort of “The Certain Things You Oughta Know” dreamy 80’s synth-wash that dominates the record. In fact, the album is so cohesive in its 80’s-possessed instrumentation that on first listen you’d think Bejar had made some fatal mistake. But that assumption would be a mistake in and of itself. It’s not as simple as stating that Kaputt is just Bejar transposing his lyrical wit and writing approach onto the swashy textures of the 1980s. While the 80’s pastiche seems to be growing exceedingly popular in the realm of independent rock, Bejar seems to have carved out a specific purpose for his stylistic decisions, and gorgeously so. He’s not merely jumping aboard the trend train....full text |
| Obscuresound |
| Dan Bejar had to put out his masterpiece sooner or later. The Canadian singer-songwriter has wooed audiences since recording We’ll Build Them a Golden Bridge in 1995. That record was the earliest and rawest embodiment of Bejar’s self-defined “European Blues”, a classification so broad in its meshing of blues, folk, and emotive glam that the only applicable comparison is to the quintessential music chameleon himself, David Bowie. Songwriters like Bowie and Bejar only share sporadic comparisons though. In their primes, both have evolved with each successive release. Sitting idle is not their preference; their only constants appear to be great songwriting and remarkably unique incorporations of lyrics/vocals. Bejar’s ninth LP under the Destroyer moniker, Kaputt, may be his most interesting yet. From spacey electronics to acid-jazz, it features a variety of styles that Bejar has found recent fascination in. Instead of Bowie, names like Bryan Ferry and Gil Evans become relevant. A few efforts – like “Poor in Love” and “Savage Night at the Opera” – are not too surprising even for a diverse songwriter like Bejar. The latter’s synth-heavy funk beat is infectious and oddly comparable to the ‘80s feel of a track like Ariel Pink’s “Fright Night (Nevermore)”. But the predictable sounds stop there. The tragic yet powerful “Suicide Demo for Kara Walker” brings to mind free-jazz, “Song for America” touches on vintage funk, “Blue Eyes” plays with the good side of soft-rock, and “Chinatown” is a gorgeous meshing of acoustical folk and ambient electronica with some great pairing of brass sections and airy synth effects. Although Bejar has touched on the styles of such efforts before, never has he been able to release something this eclectic with such cohesion. You can expect the funky bass lines and bursts of jazzy brass on most tracks, but their utilization differs frequently to keep things fresh....full text |
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