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REVIEW: Destroyer 'Kaputt'

7 April 2011 | 2:16 pm | Staff Writer

DESTROYER - KAPUTT

Pod/Inertia

With a name like Destroyer, you'd be forgiven for expecting burning skulls, devil horns and raining blood. Instead you'll find a bittersweet CD that sounds a little bit like the Legend of Zelda soundtrack, a little bit Belle and Sebastian and a little bit Pet Shop Boys. A late night synth-pop record is not what your average metalhead had in mind, no doubt. But Destroyer's Kaputt doesn't disappoint those who like being a little bit sad and a little bit happy at the same time.

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The brainchild of Canadian Dan Bejar, Destroyer have been making low-fi indie tunes since 1995. But Bejar is perhaps better known for his work with Vancouver's The New Pornographers.  Previously playing Ween-ey type songs, Bejar has obviously had a bunch of early dreamy 80's synth-pop hits rotating on the stereo for this latest effort.

Bejar writes like a jaded man. He sings “Let's face it, old souls like us are being born to die/ It's not a war till someone loses an eye” on Savage Night at the Opera. Bejar's world-weariness has two main targets. The first is women. Blue Eyes, a love letter to somebody who doesn't love you, contains the chorus “I won't and I never will” We're in Smiths territory here. The record is littered with the names of past loves - Dixie, Eva, Jessica and Nancy- and broken hearts: “I was ripped on dope/ You were a ray of sunshine/ I was a hopeless romantic/ You were swine” (Bay of Pigs). That would explain the miserable tone.

The second theme is a disdain for the music industry. He sings “Why does everybody sing along/ When we built this city on ruins” (Poor in Love), a cheeky reference to Starship's We Built This City with a sly dig at present-day bands mining forgotten decades for inspiration. And on title track, Kaputt, he laments that “Sounds, Smash Hits, Melody Maker, NME/ All sound like a dream to me”. Obviously a few things have got on Bejar's nerves over the years.

So that's the sad bit covered but what makes this record bittersweet is the use of the down with the up. By setting his thoughts to warm waves of synths, computer-game sound effects and uplifting acoustic-guitar strumming, Destroyer finds the middle ground that works so well for The Postal Service or Cornelius. Bejar's sings along in a breathy voice that's very much The Pet Shop Boys, while the occasional boy/girl vocal (on songs like Chinatown) is hopeful in a sort of Belle and Sebastian way.

It can be very dreamy. 80's Bronski Beat melancholy bits wash over, with saxophones and flutes popping up here and there. There's a lot going on behind the words. Hidden bonus track (The Laziest River) combines the sound of the ocean with an old samurai film soundtrack for 10 minutes before the vocals even kick in. And album closer, Bay of Pigs, jumps around all over the place like some pop-synth Bohemian Rhapsody.

But perhaps most telling of all, are the nods to those late-nights. “Listen, I've been drinking/As our house lies in ruins” or “All lit up and sick of fighting beneath the diseased lighting of the discotheque at night/It don't mean a thing/It never means a thing”. Is Kaputt Destroyer's comedown record? It certainly sounds like it. “Wasting your days/Chasing some girl's alright/Chasing cocaine/Through the backrooms of the world all night”, Bejar sings on Kaputt. That would explain the ups and the downs here. A record to listen to when the night before has begun to wear off perhaps? For when last night has caught up with you and you've begun to feel a bit sorry for yourself. Off to bed now, you little lightweight.

RICHARD SCOTT