Possessing a voice that’s a dead-ringer for David Gray with the literary lyricism that ranks him among Johns Darnielle and Vanderslice, Vancouver’s Dan Bejar returns with his eighth full-length release under the moniker Destroyer.
Videos by American Songwriter
Label: Merge
3.5 STARS
Possessing a voice that’s a dead-ringer for David Gray with the literary lyricism that ranks him among Johns Darnielle and Vanderslice, Vancouver’s Dan Bejar returns with his eighth full-length release under the moniker Destroyer. On Trouble in Dreams, Bejar warns us from the get-go that he’s got “fresh hells to attend to.” Spare instrumentation paired with Vaudevillian melodies makes for a general good time, unless you pay close attention to his words, which can bring you down, if you can catch them. On the album’s centerpiece, “Shooting Rockets (From the Desk of Night’s Ape),” he spouts a rich collection of run-ons, then playfully asks: “My dear, didn’t you hear, a chorus is a thing that bears repeating?” Much of the album is a thing that needs repeating. Structurally complex and thematically murky, it takes several spins and a good amount of patience for his sprawling storytelling style to stick. Here, Bejar has compiled his best songs to date, for which, he’ll likely gain a new set of followers, if they can keep up.
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