Destroyer * Sandro Perri

Touring on last year's critically-acclaimed full length, Kaputt, Destroyer's Dan Bejar has created a strange record. The album, which was nominated for a Juno and featured on dozens of year-end lists and, also ranked at #7 on the Village Voice Pazz and Jop Critic's Poll last year. The release has been described as Den Bejar's "grand 1980s yacht-rock statement" by Rolling Stone, who put it in their top 50 albums of the year, while Under The Radar calls it an "incredibly warm listening experience." New York Magazine, which ranked the album at #4 on the Top 10 Albums of the Year list, calls it "the most immersive 'soft rock' album of the year, turning smooth sounds to clever, cryptic ends." Meanwhile, Pitchfork, who gave it a coveted spot at #2 on their year-end list, describes Kaputt as "disorienting- and wholly pleasurable."

Floating somewhere between a record created of specific references to songs and bands of pop music's past, and a subconscious style pushed into new forms, it's clear on Kaputt how much Dan Bejar's younger days of being raised on Bryan Ferry, David Bowie, and New Order influenced him. He sees his music as an outlet to dress up his poems, pulling together disparate references in a suggestive way, yet offering a blank slate on which to spread his lyrical matter. What was once considered sincere music is now considered kitsch, and Bejar exploits the late 70's through early 80's sounds of soft rock, smooth jazz, and new romantic pop, complete with synths and saxophones, to once again capture that sincerity in the new era for Destroyer.