1996–2001
We'll Build Them a Golden Bridge, Destroyer's 1996 debut, is made up of sixteen lo-fi 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 quality. 'Static means punk / tuning is junk,' Bejar moans on one track.” [5] (Ideas for Songs, 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.[6])
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 "[t]he 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."[7]
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.[8] The record's "anthemic yet understated"[9] piano-driven ballads have characteristically enigmatic lyrics, though some reviewers interpreted them as critiques of the music industry.[10][11]
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.“ [12] A critical success, the album (retrospectively) received a rating of 9.1/10 from Pitchfork.[7]
2002–2007
The 2002 rock album This Night was a dramatic change in style. The looser, less rehearsed style was criticized as "messy [and] haphazard without purpose,"[13] though other critics praised the "beautiful mess of sounds" as "challenging... [and] a powerful, cohesive whole."[11] 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."[12]
Your Blues (2004) saw Destroyer take another unexpected turn, using MIDI instrumentation for almost all the backing music. Bejar coined the term "European blues" to describe its unique, theatrical sound.[14] One reviewer pointed out that "Bejar’s unusual voice sounds more confident, and higher up" in the synth-rich arrangements.[15] In yet 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 arguably his most confident record up to that point. The backing band took new-found prominence and, according to Bejar, "[t]he production seems... warm and lush and pretty focused on just making the band sound good and having everything sit well together."[12] NOW Magazine observed, "[w]hile 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."[16]
2008–2013
For Trouble in Dreams (2008), "there was a scary lack of ideas coming into the record," Bejar admitted.[17] 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.[17] At the time, Bejar said it was the "hardest record" to make.[17]
After the 2009 EP Bay of Pigs came 2011's full-length album, Kaputt (featuring a slightly modified "Bay of Pigs" track). Bejar cited influences such as Miles Davis and Roxy Music for his new jazz-infused, lounge music-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."[18][19] The record entailed a number of firsts for Destroyer: first national television performance (on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon); 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 [20] and was Pitchfork's second best album of 2011.[21]
Although smaller in scale, Destroyer's fourth EP "Five Spanish Songs" continued to surprise listeners. 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."[22]
2014–present
Bejar released Poison Season on August 28, 2015. Bejar notes that the album's sound grew from "just really getting into what we were sounding like playing live [following Kaputt]."[4] Bejar added that he would not have been able to make such an ambitious album if Kaputt had not been successful.[23] Recorded with a live band and a pronounced string section, the album's "grand cinematic set of songs"[23] 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.[24]
In 2017, Bejar released ken.
Looters' Follies
Destroyer Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Finally, I see why, I suppose...
Kid, you better change your feathers cause you'll never fly with those things...
In These Nights... The boys sing - "Hello, emptiness! I heard you're alright.
I heard you're alright.
I've heard of you..."
A body aching, fragile, and pale: dark valleys house its trail.
it's the same thing!?!
The room was crowded, and though you couldn't care less about it,
That much was true.
That month - another version of this miniature Rome to set fire to.
Why did we stop fucking around?
Girls like gazelles graze.
Boys wearing bells blaze new trails in sound.
I looked up.
I looked around.
A famous Toronto painter shot me down.
"Oh, I've busted my ass on these streets too long," he said.
I set fire to the bed and tore his gown...
Felt some mercurial presence, hitherto unknown.
It was the sun. It was a stone falling through blank space.
It was that jewel-encrusted roan getting in my face.
Looked across the way to The Princess Rooms.
I saw brides and their grooms.
I heard the sound of bells ringing!
Cinders look back fondly upon a house on fire when across
an ocean we go.
We row and we row and we tire.
Now, step out of the darkness and into the light.
Yeah, it's common knowledge I've been doing alright.
No, I can't complain.
On the Eastside, midwives' lives go down the drain all cause our babies are dying...
I lifted the veil to see nature's trickery revealed as pure shit
from which nothing ever rose cause nothing ever could.
I swear somewhere the truth lies within this wood.
I swear, Looters' Follies has never sounded so good.
And, win or lose - what's the difference?...
The lyrics of Destroyer's song Looters' Follies are quite cryptic and abstract, but the song seems to be about the struggle of finding fulfillment and meaning in life, particularly in the context of artistic expression. The opening line "You can huff and you can puff but you'll never destroy that stuff" could be interpreted as a commentary on the elusive nature of creativity and inspiration - no matter how hard one may try to suppress or forget their artistic urges, they will always be there. This idea is reinforced in the following lines, where the singer urges someone to "change your feathers" and abandon their old self in order to take flight creatively.
The song seems to be filled with imagery of decay, destruction, and rebirth - references to "dark valleys," "miniature Rome[s] to set fire to," and "cinders look[ing] back fondly upon a house on fire" all suggest a cycle of destruction and creation. The singer also alludes to his own artistic struggles, referencing a "famous Toronto painter" who dismisses his own accomplishments despite having worked hard for them.
The refrain "I heard you're alright" and the line "win or lose - what's the difference?" suggest that ultimately, nothing really matters in the grand scheme of things - we should just strive to do what feels right and not worry too much about the outcome.
Line by Line Meaning
You can huff and you can puff but you'll never destroy that stuff.
No matter how much effort you make, you can never eradicate some things.
Finally, I see why, I suppose...
I have finally understood why things are the way they are, I suppose.
Kid, you better change your feathers cause you'll never fly with those things...
You'll never succeed with those qualities; it'd be better to change.
In These Nights... The boys sing - "Hello, emptiness! I heard you're alright.
I heard you're alright.
I've heard of you..."
In these gloomy nights, the people sing about emptiness, accepting and knowing its presence.
A body aching, fragile, and pale: dark valleys house its trail.
A weak body in pain leaves behind a legacy of sadness and despair.
Why can't you see that a life in art and a life of mimicry -
it's the same thing!?!
Why don't you comprehend that a life in art or a life in imitation of it is identical?
The room was crowded, and though you couldn't care less about it,
That much was true.
The room was full of people, although you had no interest in them; that remains undeniable.
That month - another version of this miniature Rome to set fire to.
That month, another version of this small replica of Rome, is here to demolish.
Why did we stop fucking around?
Why did we cease fooling around and playing games?
Girls like gazelles graze.
Girls have a graceful, deer-like quality when they eat the grass.
Boys wearing bells blaze new trails in sound.
Boys stamped with bells create novel paths in the world of sound.
I looked up.
I looked around.
A famous Toronto painter shot me down.
"Oh, I've busted my ass on these streets too long," he said.
I set fire to the bed and tore his gown...
I glanced around and saw a prominent painter from Toronto dismiss me. He claimed to have struggled on the streets for too long. I burned the bed and ripped his attire apart.
Felt some mercurial presence, hitherto unknown.
It was the sun. It was a stone falling through blank space.
It was that jewel-encrusted roan getting in my face.
An unknown flux experienced, that was the sun. A stone descending in the void. A gaudy roan coming too close.
Looked across the way to The Princess Rooms.
I saw brides and their grooms.
I heard the sound of bells ringing!
I cast my gaze upon The Princess Rooms; I witnessed the brides and grooms there. I heard the bells ringing!
Cinders look back fondly upon a house on fire when across
an ocean we go.
We row and we row and we tire.
When we embark on a journey across the ocean, the ashes of the burning building become a memory to cherish. We continue to row, notwithstanding that we are getting exhausted.
Now, step out of the darkness and into the light.
Yeah, it's common knowledge I've been doing alright.
No, I can't complain.
On the Eastside, midwives' lives go down the drain all cause our babies are dying...
Let's step out of the obscurity and into the radiance. Yes, it is well-established that I'm doing well. No, I cannot complain. Midwives' lives on the Eastside are aggravating since our babies are dying.
I lifted the veil to see nature's trickery revealed as pure shit
from which nothing ever rose cause nothing ever could.
I raised the curtain and found out that nature is insidious, and simply useless excrement came out of it.
I swear somewhere the truth lies within this wood.
I swear to you that the veracity exists within this wood.
I swear, Looters' Follies has never sounded so good.
I assure you that Looters' Follies has never sounded this good.
And, win or lose - what's the difference?...
What's the difference between winning and losing?
Contributed by Christian I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.