LABYRINTHITIS
For all the different forms his music has assumed over the years—glam, chamber-folk, yacht rock, dream-pop—you can readily identify any Destroyer song the instant that Dan Bejar opens his mouth to dispense his cryptic yet deliciously dramatic narratives. And no record in his long, winding career puts that theory to the test as gleefully as *LABYRINTHITIS*, an album that’s essentially the musical manifestation of his famously frizzy, mad-scientist hairdo: It’s bursting with wild sonic ideas that shoot off in every direction, yet it’s always unmistakably him. After luring us in with the warm, shoegazey synth drones and subaquatic bass throb of “It’s in Your Heart Now,” *LABYRINTHITIS* traps us in its maniacal maze and dares us to find a way out: “June” deviously blurs the line between polyrhythmic post-punk and ’80s adult-contemporary pop before free-falling into a bizarre, voice-modulated spoken-word breakdown; “Tintoretto, It’s for You” is part louche cabaret strut, part festival-EDM meltdown. But *LABYRINTHITIS*’s boldness of vision also yields rousing moments of release (“Suffer,” “It Takes a Thief”) that infuse the pop elegance of 2011’s *Kaputt* with a little extra *kapow*. The instrumental title track provides a welcome mid-album reprieve in which the band crafts a Boards of Canada-worthy pastorale, complete with the comforting sounds of chattering children.
Dan Bejar’s marvelously inscrutable songwriting reaches beyond meaning. On his most live-sounding record in years, he finds clarity when language recedes and the music takes over.
Destroyer's 'Labyrinthitis' is an apt insomniac's companion for lonely dancers in make-believe discos.
Canadian songwriter/vocalist Dan Bejar's Destroyer has gone through multiple transformations over the years, with a marked transition from guitar-driven indie rock to smoother, '80s pop-informed arrangements around the time of career highlight Kaputt in 2011. Bejar's lyricism remained slippery and surreal, but subsequent records further explored synthesizer tones, funk-lite bass grooves, and grandiose production. His 13th album, Labyrinthitis, continues that slick style to some extent, but also has moments of embracing chaos and dissonance. The chorus-saturated New Order-y bass line, steady beat, and electronic percussion flourishes of the slowly unfolding album opener "It's in Your Heart Now" or the bouncy earworm "It Takes a Thief" (complete with bursts of overexcited MIDI horn sounds) feel in line with the art rock take on various eras of synth pop displayed on records like Ken or Labyrinthitis' immediate predecessor, Have We Met.
Ah, Destroyer. Back for another round in the trenches and not a moment too soon.
(Bella Union)<br>The Canadian rockers weave dreamy electronica through an album that buries frequent moments of brilliance beneath a bewildering collage of ideas
“Ruff ruff says the beetle to the terrier” – welcome to the new medieval bard album from Destroyer from Dan Bejar
If there’s a formula to figuring Destroyer's 'Labyrinthitis' out, it lies within Dan Bejar’s enigmatic mind. Read our review.
On 'LABYRINTHITIS', indie rock's Destroyer address North American anxiousness while successfully tackling styles hitherto untouched by the project.
LABYRINTHITIS by Destroyer Album review by Mimi Kenny. The Vancouver group forthcoming release drops on March 25, 2022 via Merge Records