Destroyer - Poison Season

http://deadoceans.com/_resources/front_iris/DOC106-DestroyerIris.jpg

Poison Season:

1 Times Square, Poison Season
2 Dream Lover
3 Forces From Above
4 Hell
5 The River
6 Girl in a Sling
7 Times Square
8 Archer on the Beach
9 Midnight Meet the Rain
10 Solace's Bride
11 Bangkok
12 Sun in the Sky
13 Times Square, Poison Season II

i know this has started to be talked about in the Kaputt thread but this album needs its own thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB-KT2f71lg

Looking forward to this.

just pre-ordered. now I have a reason to stay alive through the worst of the north carolina summer (the *real* poison summer)

ugh "real poison season" obviously too early for my schtick (*unplugs schtick & returns to bed*)

This is beginning to shape up to something pretty interesting!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GcWD_CroKhc

album of the year

I was willing to get on board for Dream Lover, but this song is terrible.

I just noticed "Archer on the Beach" in the tracklisting -- surely a new/rerecorded version -- but what will it sound like??

btw I got 30 seconds into "Girl in a Sling" before deciding that I should kill a fifth of gin to properly appreciate it

thanks for posting that Frederik, it is a lot slower than i thought it would be.

i'm excited for this record to be less straightforward than i thought it was. "girl in a sling" sounds very... interstitial

yeah that's a good take

on first listen i liked everything apart from the chorus
on second listen i turned it off during the first chorus
third listen, prompted by reflecting that "nothing but gold" = not-platinum*, restored my faith in Destroyer's corrosive irony

*lol kaput?

this leaked btw

sounds pretty great, as promised bejar's singing chops are tops

on first listen sounds more like a song that connects other songs on the album than a single, actually I'm getting a very pleasant musical/dramatic vibe

hyped

Yeah "girl in a sling" is nice but not very consistent.
"dreamlover" is a bit meh imo.
still, looking forward to this.
I liked the spanish EP.

maybe both seem a bit underdeveloped or underplayed melodically? that could be a strength in the long run, make for a grower of an album

both new songs have sounded great to me

dissapointing.

Bejar sounds tired and like reharsing some of his old melodies.

production is scott walker style..it's ok i guess..

heh, i kind of feel like bejar only has 4-5 melodies he's been rehashing for 15 years! but i am ok with that.

i'll correct myself: profuction is walker/roxy music/steely dan/foxtrot with vocals up front.
it's nice though but nothing to write home about.

I like "Forces From Above" and "Solace's Bride" quite a bit. The rest didn't really register on the first go.

yeah, he never struck me as a particularly prolific melodist... and that's fine with me !
it's kinda nice to have this familiar environment throughout their work.

I love how he pronounces some words, like 'heavens' in Forces From Above, which is an astounding track.

it's kinda nice to have this familiar environment throughout their work.
yeah i mean he's in good company here ... dylan, cohen, callahan, etc.

Now at Time Square (the second one), I'm sold.

Trying to figure out what those horns in "Midnight Meet the Rain" remind me of. Some blaxploitation soundtrack like Black Belt Jones or maybe something from Cowboy Bebop. Kind of caught me off guard at first.

"forces from above" is saxtastic

This is streaming at NPF First Listen.
http://www.npr.org/2015/08/19/432716740/first-listen-destroyer-poison-season#playlist

wasn't he bragging about how he recorded vocals on the last record while making a sandwich? i wonder if he's moved on to egg salad here.

are you implying that one would eat egg salad outside of a sandwich?

I've seen it with my own eyes.

phantastic album. so rich. lots of slightly disharmonic free-jazzy sounds. i still did not get used to his thin nasal micky mouse voice but it does not really disturb me anymore.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/arts/music/destroyer-takes-another-sharp-turn-toward-the-fringe.html

Interesting interview, although I feel like I read him talk about his Van Morrison fandom elsewhere as well as his kid's musical interests in pop and his own less enthusiastic take on Springsteen.

Feel like there's a risk this album will new jersey

first listen and i love this

have yet to hear this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krpcRnxVCmA

Great album, so relaxing. Love the arrangements.

The three repetitions of the Times Square theme used at the beginning, middle and end of the album are like the three pieces of bread on a double cheeseburger.

http://thetalkhouse.com/music/talks/a-sunny-day-in-glasgow-people-get-ready-talks-destroyers-poison-season/

This is fabulous.

cool garbage vocals

hum. I have listened to this a couple of times and... find it a bit boring.
I Can't really see what you guys find so great about this.
nevertheless I was quite excited but maybe I was expecting too much...
It might be their album I like the least (I haven't heard them all though).
maybe it will grow though...

Yeah, that's pretty much how I feel too. I didn't care for Kaputt and I'd say this one is a bit better in places but overall, yeah, I'm getting really bored halfway through.

There's not a lot of guitar on this album. But there's a lot of piano. And strings. It's cool, but very different from what I had anticipated.

very enjoyable easy listening

There are some nice textures and the rocking (which happens too rarely) generally excites, but the lyric that sticks with me after ~one listen is "You float down the Rhine, clutching a plastic bag" & that's only memorable because it's so transparent

some plastic bags are opaque fyi

Poison season: the night in which all bags show thru

After falling in love with Kaputt, this one was like listening to his previous releases, a huge let down.

Can't believe anyone would be bored by this, it covers so much ground and has so much going on (and sometimes barely anything at all). Loving it.

And I can't believe anyone would think it sounds like Rubies, Streethawk, Your Blues, Thief or any of the other pre-Kaputt albums.

Yeah, this is definitely a post-Kaputt album. He's said it was partly about trying to capture the sound of the band that had evolved from playing Kaputt live.

My dislike of Kaputt was solely down to my visceral hatred of sophisti-pop signifiers and anything that resembles Prefab Sprout - it was never the songs, the words, the voice (OK, maybe a little bit the voice) - so I'm delighted with Poison Season.

Kaputt was my way in to Destroyer, so I'm happy that this feels like a continuation / logical next evolution, in terms of what they're doing with brass and percussion. Delighted they've pushed it slightly away from sophisti-pop and towards jazz. Also loving what they're doing with strings. Faintly sad that there's not any ambient disco, as I loved those bits.

sophisti-pop signifiers?

Never mind, just figured out what sophisti-pop meant.

I don't like the word but it does nicely sum up a whole bunch of 80s pop that I've always found insufferable.

I was hoping for more soft rock saxophone/synthesizers and fretless bass on Poison Season. I just listened to it again and most of the songs I had to skip half way through. I guess I only need one Destroyer record in my life.

Crazy talk. The musicianship here is amazing, the songs are great, his singing is great, the lyrics are great. But I guess the relative lack of interest here compared to the Kaputt thread suggets that maybe ILM was primarily into that record because of its sophisti-pop signifiers rather than because of anything else. Which is a shame, because I think they're a great band.

well, my problem with this record is that there's not one song that I really like (so far) while there was always at least a couple in their previous albums that I know.
So it's an album I can play in the background for sure but there's no "meat" to me.

you don't like "Times Square"?

well it's alright.
but not particularly memorable...like the rest of the album !

I'm sorry... maybe watch the video? I liked it

I like the spanish EP much more, for instance !

fair enough! the best moments of Poison Season remind me of Rubies, so if you can't get on board w/ 'tall ships made of snow' then maybe this just ain't the album for you

oh I like Rubies !
anyway, yeah, I guess what they went for with this one is just not for me....

Immediate highlights = Dream Lover (raucous, exciting, radioplay), Archer On The Beach (familiar, dreamy, unfamiliar, jazzy), Midnight Meet The Rain (rocking, dramatic), Times Square (three times! Different versions, lovely strings on the first), Forces From Above (changes, crazy percussion, brass).

Hell reminds me of the Michael Nyman soundtrack to The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

sorry that was meant to go in my diary

This album doesn't hit me as hard as Kaputt did, the first Destroyer album I've liked. I'm not sure it was the 'sophisti-pop signifiers', though I've learned to love Tango in the Night since. It was more the incredible atmosphere, the woozy soundscape, the lazy vocals, the dreamy lyrics about walking in strange city-scapes. That album to me is a world. Poison Season is an album, a collection of songs. And I like them, many of them, but it is a very different kind of album for me.

Tango in the Night is Sophistipop?

what is sophistipop, actually ?
is it anything beyond roxy music's "avalon" and B.Ferry's "boys and girls" ?

Destroyer covered Everywhere on their Kaputt-tour, and yeah, I thought that was sophisti-pop?

It's a retrospective genre name so it's in the ear of the beholder but I wouldn't include Tango in the Night. The Wikipedia entry lists most of my least favourite 80s bands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophisti-pop

Alfred co-wrote a great Bluffer's Guide about it.

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/bluffer/sophisti-pop.htm

this album is very pretty. it's no Kaputt part two but a pleasant listen. there are no stand out songs but i can see listening this a lot over the next few months.

Baffled by people saying there are no stand-out songs on this; individual songs have leapt up at me far quicker than Kaputt.

"You can fall in love with Times Square"

but the song you see

This album is far more song-based than Kaputt, and I'm baffled if at least Dream Lover doesn't immediately stand out for people.

I'm starting to like this a lot.

Thanks, Re-Make!

This album is far more song-based than Kaputt, and I'm baffled if at least Dream Lover doesn't immediately stand out for people.

Only had one run through this so far, but Dream Lover / Forces From Above hooked me in immediately. Love that cello on Forces ...

Destroyer covered Everywhere on their Kaputt-tour

pretty good album

"Times Square" is such a jam

love the "Young Americans guitar

the album as a whole hasn't hit nearly as hard as kaputt but i do really like 'times square'

"Times Square" sounded good live a few weeks ago.

I feel like I mentioned it on another Destroyer thread.

This album is growing on me big time. It's got a lot going on musically--i like the slightly dialed back word count--and the arrangements/production are really good.

Lots of nice trumpet moments

I like this, but I always skip "Dream Lover" because I think it's too noisy.

do you like Psychedelic Furs?

I had to look up "Pretty In Pink." A little too Billy Idol for me.

I love the backing horns on Sun in the Sky. Where can I hear more like that? Or is that part of the early Springsteen street rock sound?

Also, is the guitar part on The River played with a slide? I really love that slightly sitar-y guitar sound

xpost the opening of "Dream Lover" is kind of abrasive, especially late at night on a long drive when you've got the volume up for the lovely delicate opening track.

This has really grown on me - probably my second favourite of his now. Especially love The River and Times Square. I miss the sequencers etc. but there's still the all horn/guitar soloing that was so great on Kaputt. It feels like the album some band would have made just before turning to sequencers etc. for Kaputt in the 80s.

agree, strong album, grower, tried to figure out what track to nominate for an eoy vote but couldn't choose betw "times square", "dream lover", "the river", "midnight meet the rain"

trumpet is v good

I'll take my chances on the rain.

strong choice

This is pretty great--Bejar even cracks a couple of jokes! (posted it by accident on Kaputt thread)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxOL77KMcd8

the other day I found myself wondering how it's possible to be "in a windowless room / ... / overlooking the river"

which I see now, as I write this, in fact makes perfect sense [via double-entendre]

What a great video! Incredible sound production on these American radio stations, weird it doesn't translate into tv performances where sound ime is almost always unlistenable. Had tickets for destroyer Friday but can't go, glad I get to see these live takes of new tracks - gives a better sense of what's going on. Also nice to hear them play EU Oils, such a good band.

Reckon there's sort of a dirty pun in the "I seen Bangkok" line?

Ha, I don't know about the pun, but yes--amazing band, amazing filming!

^agreed. makes me sad I skipped that tour ;_;

this album v good after all

yup it was a grower

i heard a song off this on the radio and it just occured to me that dude must have a major nikki sudden/kunsworth/jacobites jones

Been listening to this a lot lately. I was kind of underwhelmed by this when it was released, but right now this feels like my favorite album of 2015 and possibly favorite destroyer album.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2G_sNJbfZA

I dunno

New track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNcY93meSlo

Destroyer - ken

Ah, hadn't seen that

me itt

http://yearganbarber.jordanjcaronhold.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/failure-to-obey-person-directing-traffic.jpg

Saw Destroyer for the first time playing the Glasgow CCA last night...I need to ask has he / have they always been this good live?

That was honestly one of the best shows I've ever been to and I wouldn't have rated Dan's recorded work even close to my favourite stuff .

It was LOUD, felt/sounded very little like the album versions, and the band were totally killing it. Dan wasn't even the focal point like I was expecting. It was fluid and felt like the sounds could go anywhere - completely engaging. Very improvisational feel like when a jazz trio just clicks y'know but they were nailing, NAILING the accents/grooves/dynamics as a group. Right, gush over.

The funny thing was is half the time the musicians didn't even look into it and their stage chat (or lack of) was a bit off.

he's had that fantastic (as far as i can tell from recordings anyway) live band since touring Kaputt

anyway that post lead to me finding this fantastic live version of Certain Things You Ought To Know

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B26WXX3EEA

Something about this video looked oddly familiar until I finally recognized the back of my head.

Fantastic show. I've always liked that venue.

I saw them for the Kaputt tour : it was good, especially since I loved the album, but it didn't particularly struck me as a great live performance.
As for this latest album, it might be my favourite after Kaputt, now.
the songs are less strong but the production/arrangements are fabulous.

Saw them 4 nights ago in Manchester - same experience: blown away to an unexpected degree. Loud, tight, everything clicking. There was also something about the eight of them only just about fitting on the tiny stage.

Dan wasn't even the focal point

Gutted to have missed them on this tour.

I think Poison Season might be his/their masterpiece sometimes, much as I love Kaputt. New one has good highs, but nowhere near as consistent.

I saw them in London. It was cool! I’ve been a fan since 2004 so it was great to finally see them live. Found it funny that Bejar crouched down for any of the extended musical interludes. The sax freak outs were f-ing amazing.

saw them last night - what an incredible show

the sax was kinda buried in the mix, unfortunately

already bummed i didnt buy the black and yellow tee-shirt at the merch booth.. if anyones seeing them in the next couple months let me know!!

I also kinda regret not getting the t-shirt!

sound was not very good when I saw them though

been relistening to this. It holds up really well. I think it's the best destroyer album.