Destroyer

Destroyer began in the mid-1990s as the DIY solo project of Vancouver-based singer-songwriter Dan Bejar. At the time, Bejar's work was in the mold of other brainy lo-fi acts like The Mountain Goats and Nothing Painted Blue: albums titled with Leo Tolstoy references, sleeves pinched from works by relatively obscure modern artists, cassette-only releases. Although Bejar soon enough began working with other musicians (including bassist/producer John Collins, the closest thing the ever-shifting band has to another permanent member), Destroyer remains functionally a solo project that involves other musicians depending on Bejar's vision for each particular record, which can range from the Scott Walker-inspired art rock of Streethawk: A Seduction to the noisy guitars of Notorious Lightning and Other Works (an EP of re-recordings of songs from its synth-driven predecessor Your Blues). Bejar and Collins' participation in beloved power-pop supergroup The New Pornographers, where Bejar plays George Harrison to Carl Newman's Lennon/McCartney, raised Destroyer's profile considerably in the 2000s, although Bejar's unorthodox song structures, sometimes-mannered vocals and elliptical lyrics on albums like Thief and This Night kept them decidedly cultish. Later releases like Trouble In Dreams and Kaputt soften the edges a bit, with Bejar adopting a softer, more conversational singing style and a more direct melodic approach.