Extra-terrestrial looping melodies, singing in three languages, luxurious reverb-drenched guitar chords all were in place at The Crescent Ballroom in downtown Phoenix Monday night as Destroyer graced the stage.
For those who are unfamiliar with Destroyer, the Vancouver British Columbia band do not draw direct inspiration from the metal genre as the name might imply. The eight-piece presents frantic funk grooves, waves of soft-rock rhythm and stripped down piano tunes for singer Dan Bejar to display his idiosyncratic (and often beautiful) lyrics.
The crowd is young. Even most of those outside the under-21 section would have been too young to come to shows when Destroyer began recording in 1996. For years, Bejar’s heady poetic songwriting approach garnered the band positive reviews and a loyal following.
The songs performed aren't exclusive from the band’s most recent album, “Poison Season” and the aforementioned “Kaputt" as they stretch to deeper albums like "Rubies." The band makes wonderful use of dynamics, shifting from all out big band cacophony to subtle ambience as needed.
Hoffner and a flute on the floor during Deradoorian set at Crescent Ballroom. #Destroyer pic.twitter.com/3Wtq39gOLX
— Marco Alarid-White (@Marco_Alarid) September 22, 2015
The horns, guitars, bass, thundering drums and keyboard all blend together seamlessly in a praiseworthy feat of mixing. The crowd, calm and mostly silent throughout the night, became vocally excited when the band began to play “Chinatown” from “Kaputt.”
Upon leaving the show, fan Adam Gaumon said, “I came for Chinatown, but each song was more epic than I thought it would be.”
The songs did occasionally reach such heights as the drums swelled amid screaming horns and wailing feedback. My favorite song of the night, “Midnight Meet The Rain” had its own rapid hi-hat driven funk and stop-and-start dynamics.
The crowd may have been quiet, but they were engaged and receptive to the light-hearted and often uplifting music crafted on stage by Destroyer. It was incredible to see eight gifted musicians so attuned to one another as they created beautiful soundscapes that incorporated overdriven guitars, flute, and processed trumpet sounds.
For those familiar with Bejar’s impressive songwriting powers, I would highly recommend seeing the band as they imbue the songs with a brilliance that needs to be heard.
Correction: A previous version of this story spelled Bejar's name as Behar. The story also called a song "Midnight Meet" when the full title of the song is "Midnight Meet The Rain." It said that the songs performed were exclusively off of "Kaputt" and "Poison Season" when a song from the album "Rubies" was also performed. Corrections have been made to both errors.
Reach the reporter at malaridw@asu.edu, or on Twitter @Marco_Alarid
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