Destroyer Interview June 2011
By: Stan Morgan
Destroyer’s latest album Kaputt is a strong contender for our record of the year, despite it not even having a physical release in the UK yet. Thankfully, that wrong is soon to be put right by Dead Oceans Records, who will put out Dan Bejar’s astonishing piece of work here on June 13th. Ahead of its unveiling, Rockfeedback’s Stan Morgan entered in to the following email exchange with Mr. Bejar.
Was there anything different about the recording process for Kaputt, compared to say recent records like Trouble In Dreams or Destroyer’s Rubies?
It couldn't have really been more different to Destroyer's Rubies. That was supposed to at least sound like 5 people playing instruments and singing in a room. Whatever the opposite of that space and sound is, Kaputt strove to inhabit it.
A recent album Kaputt has been compared to is Gayngs’ Relayted, which the band said was directly inspired by 10cc. Are there any such influences you’d directly acknowledge?
Haven't heard Gayngs. There is no one thing that inspired me. I listened to a lot of the same things I always listen to (David Sylvian, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, New Order, Brian Eno, The Style Council) and then a couple things I never really used to listen to (Avalon, 80s Bryan Ferry, certain songs off of Pet Shop Boys' Behaviour, Bowie/Metheny's ‘This Is Not America’, Bowie's ‘Absolute Beginners’, early 90s chill-out music)... Tried to listen to Soul II Soul for a second, then stopped...
The ‘smooth’ sound of Kaputt is almost shocking to ears accustomed to other modern music, was that intended?
It was meant to sound like one cohesive block of music, to be consumed in the most typical of ways. To be incorporated into public life. Modern production styles are generally horrendous and super-shitty, so anything to shock those ears is fine by me. Do you mean Kaputt's lack of room sound?
Did you feel you were doing something brave incorporating so much saxophone on the album? Some people really seem to hate that instrument…
People hate Coleman Hawkins. Weird...
There’s been a lot of talk of Kaputt being a bit of a masterpiece, and your best work to date – do you rank your albums in your own head, however subconsciously?
I know my favorite is This Night. I'll put it on every couple years. My favourite song is probably ‘Widow's Walk’ on the first Swan Lake record. Destroyer's Rubies has a song called ‘Looters' Follies’ which I thought after we recorded it generally said everything I wanted to say. Trouble In Dreams is probably my best collection of songs, definitely my finest hour as a writer of words, but I think I fucked up in the making of it.
Will you have to adapt any of your older songs if you want to play them live with the Kaputt set-up? And if so, how might they sound?
We've done a couple of the older ones during the American tour, and they turned out pretty good. Some are faithful to the older versions. Some insist on brutalizing the past with disco-Stones.
A lot of reviews talk about the poeticism of your lyrics, and they tend to be subject to a lot of analysis. Is that something you approve of, or does it suck the fun out of it a bit?
I like all analysis. For the longest time Destroyer lyrics were just seen as a bunch of Jabberwocky horseshit, not that I don't encourage in-depth analysis of Jabberwocky-horseshit. Lyrical conceit in pop songs is hopeless, which makes the old albums so heroic and futile, and the new one so debonair and corrupt.
Are your lyrics always from your perspective, or do you create characters through whom you tell stories?
I think I have multiple selves on which to draw, and I save this practice for writing songs, so as to integrate better into society.
How do you think you are perceived by the wider musical community?
I better not say. My answer is possibly negative.
Artists in this article: Destroyer