Ken

by Destroyer

Overview

Dan Bejar's 11th Destroyer LP arrives six months after the New Pornographers released their first album without him (April 2017's Whiteout Conditions). Busy preparing his follow-up to 2015's Poison Season, the songwriter instead turned all attention to Ken. The title doesn't refer to a person, but rather the original title of the Suede classic "The Wild Ones." Bejar didn't offer much in the way of explanation for the choice other than that the 1994 song comes from a time "when music first really came at me like a sickness." Sparer than the epic Poison Season but still recorded with members of his band, if in a more piecemeal manner, Ken takes on a synth-heavy post-punk complexion. Acknowledging a worldview that references places like Berlin, Barcelona, Vancouver, and Rome, the album seems to make oblique allusions to the sociopolitical tensions of the period on tracks like the melancholy opener, "Sky's Grey." Anxious, helicopter-like pulses and claves lead into a cinematic sophisti-pop that unleashes midway through the song. Its lyrics include remarks like "Bombs in the city/Plays in the sticks" and "I've been working on the new Oliver Twist." He presents a more Bowie-like rock on "In the Morning" and an ominous, pulsing synth pop on "A Light Travels Down the Catwalk." In true Bejar fashion, "I can't pay for this, all I've got is money" opens "Sometimes in the World." It dispenses cautionary maxims through passages of heavy guitar distortion and sleeker moments of acoustic guitar and synths. Taken together, his typical existential outlook combined with a heavier presence of New Order-like industrial timbres make this a somewhat darker album, but still delightfully Destroyer. ~ Marcy Donelson

Product Details

Release Date:	10/20/2017
Label:	Merge
UPC:	0673855059914
Rank:	40752

Tracks

1. Sky's Grey
2. In the Morning
3. Tinseltown Swimming in Blood
4. Cover From the Sun
5. Saw You at the Hospital
6. A Light Travels Down the Catwalk
7. Rome
8. Sometimes in the World
9. Ivory Coast
10. Stay Lost
11. La Regle du Jeu

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Destroyer   Primary Artist
Daniel Bejar   Bass,Vocals,Synthesizer,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Ted Bois   Piano
David Carswell   Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric)
Joseph Shabason   Saxophone
John Collins   Bass
Nicolas Bragg   Guitar (Electric)
JP Carter   Trumpet
Josh Wells   Bass,Drums,Piano,Percussion,Synthesizer,Piano Strings,Guitar (Electric)

Technical Credits

Zach Blackstone   Assistant Engineer
Joseph Shabason   Effects
Robin Mitchell   Design
JP Carter   Effects
Jason Ward   Mastering
Josh Wells   Mixing,Engineer,Producer,Drum Programming