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Destroyer is a Canadian
indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produ ...
band from
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...
, formed in 1995. The band is fronted by founding member Dan Bejar, with a collective of regular band members and collaborators joining him in the studio and during live performances. Alongside Bejar, Destroyer currently includes longtime producers John Collins (bass) and David Carswell (guitar), Nicolas Bragg (lead guitar), Ted Bois (keyboards), JP Carter (trumpet) and Joshua Wells (drums). The band's discography draws on a variety of musical influences, resulting in albums that can sound markedly distinct from one another; in Bejar's words, "That's kind of my goal: to start from scratch every time." Destroyer have released thirteen studio albums to date, with their most recent, '' Labyrinthitis'', released in March 2022.


Career


1996–2001

''
We'll Build Them a Golden Bridge ''We'll Build Them a Golden Bridge'' is the debut album by Destroyer. Originally released on Tinker Recordings in 1996, it was reissued by Scratch Records on October 24, 2006. The album's title is an allusion to Leo Tolstoy's novel ''War and Pea ...
'', Destroyer's 1996 debut, is made up of sixteen
lo-fi Lo-fi (also typeset as lofi or low-fi; short for low fidelity) is a music or production quality in which elements usually regarded as imperfections in the context of a recording or performance are present, sometimes as a deliberate choice. The ...
home-recordings. One reviewer suggested that the album combines Bejar's "gift for melodies" with "a concerted effort to make the recording downright inconsumable; the guitars are always out of tune, and the vocals of
Fisher-Price Fisher-Price is an American company that produces educational toys for infants, toddlers and preschoolers, headquartered in East Aurora, New York. The company was founded in 1930 during the Great Depression by Herman Fisher, Irving Price, Helen ...
quality. 'Static means punk / tuning is junk,' Bejar moans on one track." ''
Ideas for Songs ''Ideas for Songs'' is a cassette by Destroyer, released in 1997. The tape was a result of Dan Bejar being asked to contribute a song under the Destroyer moniker for a various artists compilation being curated at the time. As a response he sub ...
'', released on cassette in 1997, features songs akin to those on his first album. The cassette stemmed from a request to contribute songs for a compilation album. As Bejar gained popularity in Vancouver's music scene, he was joined by producer John Collins for 1998's '' City of Daughters'', which was recorded at a proper studio. Pitchfork noted that the songs still sounded "homespun", also noting " e wordiness that would become something of a trademark is in full effect", but that "unlike much of what came later, not every line is worthy of examination." '' Thief'' (2000) embodied "Bejar's first stab at matching his grandiose, idiosyncratic vision to a showier sound"; it was the first to feature a backing band on every track. The record's "anthemic yet understated" piano-driven ballads have characteristically enigmatic lyrics, though some reviewers interpreted them as critiques of the music industry. '' Streethawk: A Seduction'' (2001) realized the sonic refinement started with '' City of Daughters''. Bejar put it this way: "I don't think it gives credence to any kind of conceptualization of the records, but I hope that City of Daughters, Thief, and Streethawk will pop into some kind of a progression that ends with Streethawk." A critical success, the album retrospectively received a rating of 9.1/10 from Pitchfork.


2002–2007

The 2002 rock album '' This Night'' was a dramatic change in style. The looser, less rehearsed style was criticized as "messy ndhaphazard without purpose", though other critics praised the "beautiful mess of sounds" as "challenging... nda powerful, cohesive whole." In a 2006 interview (after the release of '' Your Blues'' and '' Destroyer's Rubies''), Bejar said the album "came together pretty quickly – we probably could have used more than four or five days to mix the whole thing, but that's all hindsight. It's still my favorite Destroyer record." '' Your Blues'' (2004) saw Destroyer take another unexpected turn, using
MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...
instrumentation for almost all the backing music. Bejar coined the term "European blues" to describe its unique, theatrical sound. One reviewer pointed out that "Bejar's unusual voice sounds more confident, and higher up" in the synth-rich arrangements. In another twist, the EP '' Notorious Lightning & Other Works'' reworked six tracks from the record with a live band, the very thing the LP had forsaken (the band was Frog Eyes, who toured with Destroyer in support of ''Your Blues''). Bejar returned with a live band for 2006's '' Destroyer's Rubies'', delivering his most confident record up to that point. The backing band took new-found prominence and, according to Bejar, " e production seems... warm and lush and pretty focused on just making the band sound good and having everything sit well together." ''Now'' magazine observed, " ile the sheer density of Bejar's writing can be overwhelming, ''Destroyer's Rubies'' is, on a musical level, the most 'accessible' disc he's released."


2008–2013

For '' Trouble in Dreams'' (2008), "there was a scary lack of ideas coming into the record", Bejar admitted. Destroyer's piano player Ted Bois took it upon himself, as an alternative to keyboard and piano accompaniment, to create all string and synth arrangements for the songs. At the time, Bejar said it was the "hardest record" to make. After the 2009 EP ''
Bay of Pigs The Bay of Pigs ( es, Bahía de los Cochinos) is an inlet of the Gulf of Cazones located on the southern coast of Cuba. By 1910, it was included in Santa Clara Province, and then instead to Las Villas Province by 1961, but in 1976, it was rea ...
'' came 2011's full-length album, '' Kaputt'' (featuring a slightly modified "Bay of Pigs" track). Bejar cited influences such as
Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...
and
Roxy Music Roxy Music are an English rock band formed in 1970 by Bryan Ferry—who became the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter—and bassist Graham Simpson. The other longtime members are Phil Manzanera (guitar), Andy Mackay (saxophone ...
for his new jazz-infused,
lounge music Lounge music is a type of easy listening music popular in the 1950s and 1960s. It may be meant to evoke in the listeners the feeling of being in a place, usually with a tranquil theme, such as a jungle, an island paradise or outer space. The rang ...
-inspired, sophisti-pop direction. In multiple interviews, Bejar variously stressed that he "sang in a completely different manner, almost unconscious of even singing, more like speaking into a vacuum, and was really happy with the results." The record entailed a number of firsts for Destroyer: first national television performance (on ''
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by comedian Jimmy Fallon. About pag ...
''); first official music video; first female backing vocals; and the first time Bejar performed without an instrument on tour – his concentration placed solely on his singing. '' Kaputt'' was short listed for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize and was Pitchfork's second best album of 2011. Smaller in scale, Destroyer's fourth EP '' Five Spanish Songs'' is sung entirely in Spanish, Bejar covered songs by Sr. Chinarro ( es). Bejar's own tongue-in-cheek press release announcing the new songs began: "It was 2013. The English language seemed spent, despicable, not easily singable."


2014–present

Bejar released ''
Poison Season ''Poison Season'' is the tenth studio album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer, released on August 28, 2015 by Merge Records and Dead Oceans Records. Release The first song released from ''Poison Season'', "Dream Lover", was posted on SoundCl ...
'' on August 28, 2015. Bejar notes that the album's sound grew from "just really getting into what we were sounding like playing live ollowing ''Kaputt''" Bejar added that he would not have been able to make such an ambitious album if ''Kaputt'' had not been successful. Recorded with a live band and a pronounced string section, the album's "grand cinematic set of songs" feature Bejar singing with a broader range than before: "This is the first record that I've ever done that comes close to my idea of myself as a singer", Bejar said. In 2017, Bejar released '' ken'', an album produced by Destroyer drummer Joshua Wells (who was also a member of Black Mountain). Destroyer's twelfth studio album, '' Have We Met'', was released on January 31, 2020. On March 25, 2022, the band's thirteenth studio album, '' Labyrinthitis'', was released.


Band name

In 2002, Bejar said about the band name, "I kind of wanted to go for a rock 'n' roll name. In our own special way we're tearing shit apart, you just have to listen very carefully. Musically I knew it was never going to be a metal band, but I thought lyrically there were fangs to the music." Bejar added in 2008, "I was actually so out of it I didn't know that there was a Kiss record called Destroyer because I didn't know anything about
Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
. I still don't know anything about them. I just thought it was a cool rock-and-roll name, and I was kind of blown away that it hadn't been taken already. I was like, 'I have to use this because it's so weird that no one's used it before.'"


Collaborators

The ever-evolving band lineup can give the impression that Destroyer is a solo project. However, Bejar has insisted " e music is always collaborative and I think that gets lost in the weird cult of personality shit that seems to get whipped up around me." Although Bejar had claimed that the lineup from certain recording sessions would be permanent, later recording sessions and tours added and dropped musicians. Several band members have the commonality of being from the production team of JC/DC ( John Collins and David Carswell). Some songs recorded for ''Your Blues'' originated from Bejar's musical contribution to Sheila Heti's play ''All Our Happy Days Are Stupid''. On the EP '' Archer on the Beach'' (2010), Bejar worked with ambient-music composer
Tim Hecker Tim Hecker is a Canadian electronic musician, producer, composer, and sound artist. His work, spanning atmospheric ambient albums such as '' Harmony in Ultraviolet'' (2006), '' Ravedeath, 1972'' (2011) and '' Virgins'' (2013), has been widely ...
for the title track. Bejar wrote in the press release: "The reason why this has to be seen as a collaboration, rather than strictly a Destroyer release, is that, for the first time, I'm not responsible for any of the music ... aside from the vocals, the general chord progression." On the B-side, the
spoken word Spoken word refers to an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a late 20th century continuation of an ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetics o ...
song "Grief Point", Loscil provided the music. Loscil also composed an extra track, "Loscil's Rubies", on the vinyl version of ''Destroyer's Rubies''. American visual artist Kara Walker contributed to the lyrics for '' Kaputt''s "Suicide Demo (For Kara Walker)". Organized by Merge, Walker sent cue cards with bits of text to Bejar in 2009. Vancouver artist and
Hello, Blue Roses Hello, Blue Roses is a Canadian musical collaboration involving Sydney Hermant, a visual artist from Vancouver, and her husband Dan Bejar (of Destroyer and The New Pornographers). History Hello, Blue Roses was created by Hermant and Bejar in 2008 ...
partner, Sydney Hermant has provided the cover art for multiple Destroyer albums, including ''We'll Build Them a Golden Bridge'', ''This Night'', ''Your Blues'' and ''Trouble in Dreams''.


Members

Current members * Dan Bejar - lead vocals, guitar, synthesisers * John Collins - bass guitar, synthesisers, programming, production *Nicolas Bragg - lead guitar *Ted Bois - keyboards *David Carswell - guitar, keyboards, production *JP Carter - trumpet *Joshua Wells - drums, percussion, keyboards Current touring members *Colin Cowan - bass guitar Former members * Scott Morgan - drums, saxophone, clarinet, classical guitar *Jason Zumpano - keyboards *Stephen Wood - guitar *Chris Frey - bass guitar *Fisher Rose - drums, vibraphone, trumpet *Tim Loewen - bass guitar *Pete Bourne - drums *
Joseph Shabason Joseph Shabason is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist and composer. He is best known for playing the saxophone. As a band member and session musician, Shabason has contributed to bands such as DIANA, Destroyer and The War on Drugs. As a solo proj ...
- saxophone, flutes Former touring members * Carey Mercer - backing vocals, guitar, organ * Melanie Campbell - drums * Michael Rak - bass guitar * Grayson Walker - keyboards


Discography

Studio albums *''
We'll Build Them a Golden Bridge ''We'll Build Them a Golden Bridge'' is the debut album by Destroyer. Originally released on Tinker Recordings in 1996, it was reissued by Scratch Records on October 24, 2006. The album's title is an allusion to Leo Tolstoy's novel ''War and Pea ...
'' (1996) *'' City of Daughters'' (1998) *'' Thief'' (2000) *'' Streethawk: A Seduction'' (2001) *'' This Night'' (2002) *'' Your Blues'' (2004) *'' Destroyer's Rubies'' (2006) *'' Trouble in Dreams'' (2008) *'' Kaputt'' (2011) *''
Poison Season ''Poison Season'' is the tenth studio album by Canadian indie rock band Destroyer, released on August 28, 2015 by Merge Records and Dead Oceans Records. Release The first song released from ''Poison Season'', "Dream Lover", was posted on SoundCl ...
'' (2015) *'' ken'' (2017) *'' Have We Met'' (2020) *'' Labyrinthitis'' (2022) EPs *'' Notorious Lightning & Other Works'' (2005) *''
Bay of Pigs The Bay of Pigs ( es, Bahía de los Cochinos) is an inlet of the Gulf of Cazones located on the southern coast of Cuba. By 1910, it was included in Santa Clara Province, and then instead to Las Villas Province by 1961, but in 1976, it was rea ...
'' (2009) *'' Archer on the Beach'' (2010) *'' Five Spanish Songs'' (2013) Music videos


References


External links


Destroyer at Merge Records

Destroyer at Misra Records

Dan Bejar's 'Other' Band
NPR segment aired March 18, 2006
Destroyer
– Cover story on Destroyer in ''Exclaim!'' magazine
May 2008 Interview
with L.A. Record {{DEFAULTSORT:Destroyer Musical groups from Vancouver Canadian indie rock groups Merge Records artists Musical groups established in 1995 1995 establishments in British Columbia Musical groups with year of establishment missing Dead Oceans artists Misra Records artists