Dan Bejar has been making music since the mid-'90s under various acts like The New Pornographers, Swan Lake, and Hello, Blue Roses, but he is probably the most home with his main band Destroyer. The ninth disc entitled Kaputt by Destroyer creates one of their most beautiful, yet frightening albums to date. Led by songs like synthesizer soaring "Savage Night At the Opera" and the spacey ambient "Bay of Pigs", Kaputt is a unique, adventurous musical achievement in the early season of 2011.
Bejar has always been known for his cryptic lyricism and distinct voice throughout any of his musical acts, but Destroyer has always been his strong suit. The best musical genre to classify Kaputt is a sort of jazzy indie pop that flourishes with new wave bass lines, delicate resonant trumpet reverberations, and of course the sensual saxophone solos. All of these elements come at you with such force and a mock-mellowness. Bejar's voice stays the same throughout the entire record; he never gets worked up or rises to different pitches.
As mentioned before, Kaputt has so many different elements throughout it. The smooth acoustic staccatos in the intro of "Suicide Demo For Kara Walker" don't at all prepare listeners for the disco-esque beat and chilling flute solos. The nostalgia from the '80s is so strong throughout Kaputt with hints of new wave, disco, nu-jazz, and other elements famous and infamous from '80s pop music. Indie music has been experimenting in '80s for some time now, with Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti's Before Today last year was teeming with '80s elements and now Destroyer has been inspired by this musical fad and create a beautiful, unique record that is bursting with the sense of nostalgia that I really can't relate to (being born in 1994).
The epic finish to Kaputt, "Bay of Pigs", starts off with a spacey ambient intro that builds into a epic storytelling grandeur from Bejar, "I was born in the North, but my father is from the South/Love is a political beast with jaws for a mouth, I don't care!" laments Bejar. One thing that sticks out on Kaputt is how none of the songs really reach a climax; instead they build up and then slowly move back to normal, that unusually song writing creates a tense listening pattern that will keep you listening and listening and stay excited and relaxed.
Kaputt is an excellent nostalgic record that pays homage to various '80s musical elements. Looking back at other Destroyer works; Your Blues, Streethawk: A Seduction, and others are well crafted but don't stick out as much as the unique renditions of indie music through Kaputt. Dan Bejar's talents are again showcased through is tenacious, unique approach of music.
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