Throughout Destroyer’s 14th album, Dan Bejar is preoccupied with the long shadow cast by mortality. If the nine tracks on ‘Dan’s Boogie’ are anything to go by, though, there’s life in the old dog yet. Here Bejar weaves sardonic, wry character studies together with jazz, psych-pop, lounge music, and everything in between. It’s as wonderful as ever.
Opener The Same Thing as Nothing at All is a cocktail soundtrack for maximalists — Joshua Wells’ drums rise and fall like empires, Ted Bois’ piano spirals into madness, while cascading synths underpin a metaphor on coming to terms with aging. Although the album strays wildly from this starting point musically, each song takes this germ of an idea and runs with it.
Bejar has always dug Alice In Wonderland-sized rabbit holes, and ‘Dan’s Boogie’ is no exception. In a four song run, you’ll find yourself here, there, and everywhere.
Hydroplaning Off the Edge of the World’s woozy synths, slinky bass, and strophic structure split the difference between jangle-pop and Bowie glam, while The Ignoramus of Love’s Americana-for-minimalists floats melancholy musings over delicately twinkling piano.
The title track’s clattering piano and chaotic synths recall a wild, jazz-infused romp in the vein of ‘Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino’-era Arctic Monkeys, and yet the Fiver-featuring Bologna is a hypnotically disorienting trip-hop detour.
‘Dan’s Boogie’ is also a gluttonous buffet of Easter eggs for long-time listeners. Bejar’s trail of lyrical breadcrumbs will lead you back to 2006’s ‘Destroyer’s Rubies’, 2011’s ‘Kaputt’, and 2022’s ‘Labyrinthitis’. But the most rewarding moment here is Cataract Time: an eight-minute wonder that rises sheepishly, its guitars yawning and stretching until the organ’s pipes work their magic. Bejar might be boogying his way through a midlife crisis but one thing’s for sure: Destroyer are only getting better with age.
Destroyer Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Tue June 10 2025 - MANCHESTER Gorilla
Wed June 11 2025 - BRISTOL Fleece
Thu June 12 2025 - LONDON Islington Assembly Hall
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