Acrpost: A Project of the Pacific Association of Artist Run Centres

Event Description

On August 28, Destroyer returns with a new full-length, Poison Season, followed by a world tour. Listen and share the song “Dream Lover” and pre-order the album on CD or double-LP now in the Merge store, or digitally via iTunes.



In addition, Destroyer will concurrently release a two-song 12-inch as a companion to the new album. It includes a remix of “Forces From Above” along with the orchestral “Times Square, Poison Season,” a song that gave rise to several tracks on the new album, as detailed below. Pre-order the limited-edition 12-inch now in the Merge store.



Poison Season opens with Vancouver native Dan Bejar swathed in Hunky Dory strings. He’s a dashboard Bowie surveying four wracked characters—Jesus, Jacob, Judy, Jack—simultaneously Biblical and musical theatre. This bittersweet, Times Square-set fanfare is reprised twice more on the record—first as swaying, saxophone-stoked “street-rock” and then finally as a curtain-closing reverie.



“The first and last songs are actually one song tracked live with quintet,” explains their author. “I even sang with the band. That song always swung between super austere and super mid-’70s Springsteen/Bowie street-rock. In the end, I decided I wanted both. Couldn’t really figure out a way to sequence the orchestral version within the record, so I decided to carve it up as a book-ending motif, with the rock version squarely in the middle.”


Mr. Bejar has long displayed a chameleonic instinct for change while maintaining a unified aesthetic (rather than just pinballing between reference points). No two records sound the same, but they’re always uniquely Destroyer. His latest incarnation often appears to take sonic cues from a distinctly British (usually Scottish, to be precise) strain of sophisti-pop: you might hear traces of Aztec Camera, Prefab Sprout, Orange Juice, or The Blow Monkeys. These songs merge a casual literary brilliance with intense melodic verve, nimble arrangements, and a certain blue-eyed soul sadness.



Destroyer on tour:

Sep 18 Portland, OR Wonder Ballroom

Sep 19 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore

Sep 20 Los Angeles, CA The Regent Theatre

Sep 21 Phoenix, AZ The Crescent Ballroom

Sep 23 Austin, TX The Mohawk

Sep 24 Dallas, TX Trees

Sep 25 Lawrence, KS The Granada

Sep 26 Minneapolis, MN Fine Line Music Café

Sep 27 Chicago, IL Thalia Hall

Oct 1 Montreal, QC Theatre Fairmount

Oct 2 Boston, MA Royale

Oct 4 New York, NY Webster Hall

Oct 5 Washington, DC 9:30 Club

Oct 7 Asheville, NC Grey Eagle

Oct 9 Atlanta, GA The Loft

Oct 10 Nashville, TN Mercy Lounge

Oct 13 Denver, CO The Bluebird Theater

Oct 14 Salt Lake City, UT Urban Lounge

Oct 15 Boise, ID Neurolux

Oct 17 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom