Dan Bejar is a grasp of apocalyptic absurdity. In his work, insufferable warmth is parrot climate. The Renaissance painter Tintoretto turns into shorthand for being dumb. “Crimson Tide” is perhaps a reference to the Alabama soccer crew and to blood and the way it drips out of your physique. As Bejar explains it, a crimson tide can be a lazy river, a vulture consuming off the ground, “a circus mongrel sniffing for clues.” Over the previous three many years, Bejar has constructed up a complete register of those pictures. He has created his personal syntax and grammar. When he sings about tv supervisors, Chinatowns in unremarkable cities, and a Ferris wheel on the run from the snow, all of it’s ruthlessly in dialog with itself. His 14th report, Dan’s Boogie, isn’t any outlier. It builds on this language and, like all Destroyer data, is a personality examine. The character being studied is as soon as once more Bejar himself.
On Dan’s Boogie, Bejar is a nightlife impresario. He’s sitting within the inexperienced room in a velvet go well with. He’s jetting off to Bologna for a protracted weekend. He’s telling you that he wasn’t placed on the Earth to argue with you. He’s taking a puff from a cigar and reminding you that ladies fill out and males crumble inwards. If 2022’s Labyrinthitis was a report of all-night amphetamine disco, Dan’s Boogie is what you’ll take heed to the following morning in your sun shades on the practice or consuming a vodka within the bathtub. The manufacturing is much less manic, no 4 on the ground, no spontaneous drum machine bubble. As a substitute it’s a report of full management, full string preparations, stay jazz piano glissandos. Tasteful guitar squawk. Like a giant sigh. A simultaneous “dawn/sundown,” as he sings on the title monitor whereas synths pirouette and horns glitter within the background.
And all of it’s acquainted territory. The reference level for this report will not be a selected époque of music or a lofty idea. The reference level is different Destroyer data, “a Poison Season/Your Blues mash-up,” in line with Bejar himself. Dan’s Boogie will not be a facsimile of its predecessors. It’s funnier, wiser, although the stakes are maybe slightly decrease. Look no additional than “Solar Meet Snow.” Bejar is within the zone, free associating over horns, over imperial piano runs, a cymbal crash. It sounds stay, such as you’re there with him within the lodge bar. “I’m into it,” he says, winking, “If you’re into it.” All of it feels easy, like he’s been doing this for his complete life, which he mainly has.