Destroyer "Trouble In Dreams" (OUT NOW!)
Dec 4, 2007 15:07:28 GMT -5
Post by busyboy on Dec 4, 2007 15:07:28 GMT -5
Premiere: Destroyer: "Foam Hands"
Even for an eccentric, Dan Bejar is eccentric. His songs as Destroyer and as a member of the New Pornographers don't push rock's musical conventions forward so much as invest them with his own stubbornly postmodern personality, which I guess is almost the same thing; Bejar makes the familiar strange through cryptic allusions and a distinctive voice rather than the surer (and, let it be said, equally valid) route of pedals, electronics, or genre-dabbling. That's why my favorite reference point for 2006's fantastic Destroyer's Rubies-- and I apologize for not remembering where I first saw this-- was Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, another album that saw an idiosyncratic songwriter backed by a highly capable band, putting classical guitar and folk-rock elements through his own screwy vision (and inspiring plenty of great writing).
"Foam Hands", from forthcoming eighth Destroyer album Trouble in Dreams, continues the Vancouver-based songwriter's Rubies approach, framing a referential message to a distant (former?) lover in bluesy lead guitar, gentle acoustic downstrokes, and organs. "True love regrets to inform you, there are certain things you must do/ To perceive his face in the stains on the wall," Bejar begins, getting right to the chorus: "I didn't know what time it was at all." There's also whistling, the phrase "since you been gone", and some brief, echoey backing vocals that could almost be mistaken for a choir, as if Bejar is seeing how much MOR he can get away with. When he's singing songs like this one-- which he previously recorded with singer Sydney Vermont in their Hello Blue Roses guise-- my hunch is, a lot.
MP3: Destroyer: "Foam Hands"
Track listing:
01 Blue Flower/Blue Flame
02 Dark Leaves From a Thread
03 The State
04 Foam Hands
05 My Favorite Year
06 Shooting Rockets (From the Desk of Night's Ape)
07 Introducing Angles
08 Rivers
09 Leopard of Honor
10 Plaza Trinidad
11 Libby's First Sunrise
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Even for an eccentric, Dan Bejar is eccentric. His songs as Destroyer and as a member of the New Pornographers don't push rock's musical conventions forward so much as invest them with his own stubbornly postmodern personality, which I guess is almost the same thing; Bejar makes the familiar strange through cryptic allusions and a distinctive voice rather than the surer (and, let it be said, equally valid) route of pedals, electronics, or genre-dabbling. That's why my favorite reference point for 2006's fantastic Destroyer's Rubies-- and I apologize for not remembering where I first saw this-- was Van Morrison's Astral Weeks, another album that saw an idiosyncratic songwriter backed by a highly capable band, putting classical guitar and folk-rock elements through his own screwy vision (and inspiring plenty of great writing).
"Foam Hands", from forthcoming eighth Destroyer album Trouble in Dreams, continues the Vancouver-based songwriter's Rubies approach, framing a referential message to a distant (former?) lover in bluesy lead guitar, gentle acoustic downstrokes, and organs. "True love regrets to inform you, there are certain things you must do/ To perceive his face in the stains on the wall," Bejar begins, getting right to the chorus: "I didn't know what time it was at all." There's also whistling, the phrase "since you been gone", and some brief, echoey backing vocals that could almost be mistaken for a choir, as if Bejar is seeing how much MOR he can get away with. When he's singing songs like this one-- which he previously recorded with singer Sydney Vermont in their Hello Blue Roses guise-- my hunch is, a lot.
MP3: Destroyer: "Foam Hands"
Track listing:
01 Blue Flower/Blue Flame
02 Dark Leaves From a Thread
03 The State
04 Foam Hands
05 My Favorite Year
06 Shooting Rockets (From the Desk of Night's Ape)
07 Introducing Angles
08 Rivers
09 Leopard of Honor
10 Plaza Trinidad
11 Libby's First Sunrise
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