Artist: Destroyer             Album: Trouble In Dreams                Label: Merge

 

Synopsis: I love Dan Bejar, also known as Destroyer. He always seems to know exactly what I want to hear. How do you do it Dan? His music, for some reason, just gives me this feeling that he has figured out something about life that I haven’t. It is hard to describe, but I love his music and this CD. This album could very well be part two to Destroyer’s Rubies, which was his previous album. There isn’t music of a stylistic switch, which is good because his last album was amazing. But maybe this CD, Trouble In Dreams could be the b-sides to the previous album, only because I like it less. The music is great and still has that wonderful electric folk feel, but for some reason I feel like something is not there that was on the last album. I am sorry this is turning into a comparison to the previous album but I just think the two are so similar, they naturally warrant a comparison and this is the lesser of the two. Bejar’s use of profanity is present on almost every song, save for five of them, so KTSW can’t even play the best songs. Bummer. If there is anything college students should be listening to on their radio station, it is Destroyer.

 

Recommended Tracks:

 

*1. “Blue Flower/Blue Flame” – This one is perpetually stuck in my head, it is the most folksy sounding song on the album, which I am a sucker for folk.

 

*2. “Dark Leaves Form A Thread” – This song, again, is very upbeat, and pretty pop influenced, so it gets stuck in my head easily, I love the shift from the guitar to the piano, then to the drums building up. Awesome.

 

4. “Foam Hands” – A little slower and creepy, but it builds and back-up singers get involved.

 

7. “Introducing Angels” – Again, a slower and more spacey sounding guitar.

 

*10. “Plaza Trinidad – This is the most upbeat, passionate song on the album, to me. I love the guitar part and the “humm-do-dah-do-dah-dumm” singing. Gaw, I wish I could sing like Bejar and get guitars to sound like that.

 

Rating (1-10): 8

 

Reviewed By: Rand Renfrow

 

* - currently being played on KTSW