Unraveling Destroyer's "Rubies"

 

When it comes to accentuating the absurd and breaking apart the artificial walls of grandiose self importance, all the while wrapping oneself in a creative backdrop of poetry, jazz, nostalgia and a subtle sense of wit, singer-songwriter Dan Bejar is perhaps unmatched. In that regard he is the perfect critic and has been holding his listeners under strict scrutiny for very many years. I say that, of course, with great pride as a Destroyer fan, without a doubt one of Dan’s most important projects. A boldly honest musician who not only wears his influences on his sleeve, but showcases them in the form of proper nouns in his eccentric lyricism. It’s his sixth album ‘Destroyer’s Rubies’ that initially drew me in with its eclectic clash of poetry and wonderfully blended acoustic and electric guitars. 

In a 2015 Pitchfork  interview “Accidental Pop: A Conversation With Destroyer's Dan Bejar”, the artist very briefly touched upon his upbringing and parents during a question about his religious views:

“My mom's Jewish and my dad was Spanish and raised Catholic, and together they raised us as nothing at all.”

The warm sounds of rich Spanish guitars take forefront in quite a few of the songs featured on “Rubies”. Especially so on the self titled first track where rich, boldly plucked notes completely isolate the track, allowing Bejar’s vocals to shine until the song completely erupts into a cascading spectacle where Dan himself, imitates the direction to which the sounds of the instruments are going with a sort of “humming”. The musician went even further with his Spanish roots and released a 2013 EP where he covered five tracks completely in his father’s native tongue. It’s apparent that Bejar is very talented in treating both acoustic and electric instruments with great equity. Where one lays the groundwork, the other soon treads.

Destroyer’s vivid storytelling is prevalent here as well. Tracks like “Looters’ Follies” come off brutally honest as Dan comments on the lonely nature of man and the feeling of not belonging.

“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've heard you're alright

I've heard of you”

In a contextual sense, Bejar is sifting through old photographs of himself and his accomplices, putting together memories, talking to the people he’d been surrounded with and himself only to find that those moments never really amounted to anything. Lifting the veil, one may find that the deeply profound and misleading stories are a very poetic representation of everyday life. In Destroyer’s music, relationships don’t fail, they’re “another version of this miniature Rome to set fire to”. There is a certain vulnerability present once you’re done unraveling “Rubies’” canvas dense with colours and smells, people take shapes, buildings appear in wonderful rustic glory as the pathway to Bejar’s intertextual existence and rhetoric nature opens up. 

 

Dan’s music is perhaps doused in a deep pool of irony. The more he tries to move away from catchy hooks and spectacular soft rock and pop spectacle, the more he finds himself in the spotlight of every indie magazine having to explain himself and his motives, like he did when asked about a certain song from his 2015 record “Poison Season” in that same interview.

“I apologize for those songs; those songs are aberrations. They were just live recordings, for the most part. We went to the studio and pounded them out, and I didn't have it in me to go against the grain of what we naturally sound like.”

Destroyer would delve into 80’s nostalgia, swooning synth ballads and easy on the ear poetic jazz rock in his 2011 album “Kaputt” that garnered him perhaps the most recognition. Bejar is a very peculiar case of an artist going against the current by surfing in favor of it and
“Rubies” is a spectacular album for a deep self analysis, walk in the park mixed with very many creative ideas. A fantastic blend of artistry and technicality. 

“Blessed doctor, do your worst

Cut me open, remove this thirst

Hidden, but near

A series of visions, I won't repeat them here

I won't repeat them here”