Album Review: Destroyer, Dan's Boogie

To always sound like yourself, while forever evolving as a songwriter, is the impressive feat Destroyer’s Dan Bejar has pulled off again and again, across a near 30-year career. His 14th LP as Destroyer, Dan’s Boogie, is a typically adventurous helping of progressive indie rock – hopscotching as it does from shoegaze to heartfelt acoustic pop via a selection of drone-fuelled dirges.

There’s an engaging back story, too. After touring his previous LP, Labyrinthitis, the Vancouver native embarked on a famine-then-feast strategy. He gave up songwriting altogether for months – and then executed a 180-degree turn by setting himself the challenge of playing piano for one hour every day.

Such tactics were part of an effort to push beyond his comfort zone – the temptation to more-or-less phone it in being obvious when you’re so deep into your journey. However idiosyncratic, the approach has paid off, with album opener ‘The Same Thing As Nothing At All’ arriving in a blaze of Father John Misty-style vintage strings, while ‘Hydroplaning Off The Edge Of The World’ glimmers with gorgeous retro-pop luxuriance.

A wonderful record finishes on a stark note with stripped-to-the-bone singer-songwriter piano ballad ‘Travel Light’. Not for the first time, Destroyer has created beauty out of thin air.

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