Destroyer’s Trouble in Dreams is personal

Bejar artfully combines ballads and rock.

By Antoine Kalewicz
March 18, 2008

(Click graphic to enlarge)

Courtesy of Merge Records

(Click graphic to enlarge)

Canada has already proved to the world that it should not be ashamed of its musical scene.

The homeland of exceptional and unclassifiable bands and songwriters, such as Pierre Lapointe, who sings old-fashioned pop songs filled with atypical electronic arrangements; the ambitious collective Broken Social Scene, renowned for its improbable but astonishing rock songs; and the very dazzling and already cult Arcade Fire; Canada has indeed one of the world’s most prolific rock scenes.

The Vancouverite Dan Bejar, also known as Destroyer, definitely belongs to this clan.

Bejar, more famous for being a member of the overhyped band The New Pornographers, started his solo journey as Destroyer a long time ago.

He released his debut solo album, We’ll Build Them a Golden Bridge, in 1996.

Do not trust this misleading band’s name. Destroyer gets more inspiration from sensitive and tortured pop-folk music than noisy heavy metal music.

Since his first, primitive lo-fi folk LP, Bejar seems to have made quite a remarkable transformation.

Bejar has a gift for surprising his audience; in 2004, he took everybody’s breath away with his astonishing sixth album, Your Blues.

With this fascinating LP, in which Bejar reinvented his image as a lo-fi folk songwriter by using MIDI instrumentation, Bejar took the risk to lose his public and the critics.

While being destabilized, both the critics and the audience praised this album, a genuine feat of strength.

Bejar’s new releases are always quite an event in the small world of independent rock.

Trouble In Dreams is not an exception; while less disconcerting and innovative than Your Blues, it remains a strong and quite audacious album. Once again, Bejar does not disappoint and delivers a wonderful piece of work.

This idea of Trouble In Dreams reflects exactly what the album is about.

Bejar opens the album with the very simple and acoustic “Blue Flower/Blue Flame,” moves on with the catchy “Dark Leaves From a Thread,” then performs the uproarious “The State.”

This album is then once again a mixture of deeply moving ballads and more boisterous rock songs.

Bejar, by delivering what sounds like a contrasted, hybrid album, actually gives birth to an extremely personal and intimate world that reveals itself to be of an unexpected coherence.

While very personal, Bejar’s world is not closed to listener; on the contrary, he opens its doors to everybody ready to follow him on an entrancing and bewitching journey.

Even though all of the songs are of an exceptional quality, some of them stand out as even better tunes.

“Foam Hands” is truly one of the best ballads heard recently. With its simple rhythm and exemplary arrangement, this formidable tune, bare of superfluous ornaments, which soberly ends by welcomed whistling, procures a feeling of well-being like the entire album.

The perfect instrumentation and Bejar’s rapturous voice take part in the album’s success.

Bejar continues to write poetic lyrics dealing with very distinctive issues.

Trouble In Dreams may not be the shock Your Blues was, but it confirms that Bejar is without a doubt a captivating personality of rock music.

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