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| Destroyer,
Destroyer's Rubies |
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| REVIEWED
BY JASON GLADU, POSTED ON APRIL 2,
2006 |
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Destroyer
first started off as a solo project for Vancouverite Dan Bejar,
whose neo-folkie vibe and unusual vocal stylings were compared
to Hunky Dory-era
Bowie. But with each release, as Destroyer and its band members
gained critical acclaim, so did Bejar's other band The New Pornographers.
While Bejar only records with the Pornographers, it's hard to
imagine where he found the time to work on last year's Pornographers
disc Twin Cinema, collaborate on a Frog Eyes EP, and produce
Destroyer's fifth full length, Destroyer's Rubies. The
Destroyer disc opens with the dramatic nine-minute pop-rock masterpiece "Rubies" — which
makes it clear that Destroyer are comfortable switching between
Bejar playing solo and full-out ensemble rockin'. It's this
dynamic that makes Destroyer's Rubies such an imaginative and
engaging listen. Other standouts include "European Oil," featuring
some of Bejar's most intricately layered guitar work, the groove-laden "3000
Flowers" and "Watercolours Into
The Ocean," which employs some fantastic reverb effects.
And like the erratic mix of sounds employed on the album,
Bejar's lyrics are just as abstract. While some may find his
lyrics witty or poetic, others may find them far too impersonal,
but now we're just nit picking, since Destroyer's Rubies will
be on plenty of top ten lists at the end of the year. (Merge
Records) |
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