Labyrinthitis - Destroyer: Review

Destroyer

is a Canadian indie rock project fronted by principal singer and songwriter Dan Bejar who are well over 20 years into their run. The critical highlight of their discography came in the early 2010's when they adopted a sophisti-pop sound on Kaputt and Poison Season. Labyrinthitis is the 13th Destroyer album and follows 2020's sonically darker Have We Met.

Review By Lav:

I've been a fan of Destroyer for a long time and it's no secret. When I made my 2011 retrospectives last year I had high praise for both the album Kaputt and the song Chinatown and the 2015 retrospective will be exactly the same. While I was a lot less impressed by 2017's ken I was back to dishing out praise a few years ago when the band returned with a dark, moody nightclub aesthetic on Have We Met. After a few good singles I was really excited all over again for this album. While there is occasionally so much instrumentation wandering around these songs that it gets exhausting, for the most part these songs have all the poise you'd expect from Destroyer. 

The first two singles from the record really won me over. Tintoretto, It's For You has been on loop since it first came out a few months ago and while everybody is talking about the song's awesome drop, it really is a blast from start to finish. The way it wanders through these slinky refrains, never giving your mind any reason to rest is great and I continue to really enjoy the song. Eat The Wine, Drink The Bread will grab you from the opening bassline and never let you go. Whether it's the distant tapping over the bridge or the rattling that backs the verses there's always plenty of texture to explore all over the song. Once the hook comes in with those electric guitars the whole thing is just wrapped up in a perfect bow.

It's In Your Heart Now is another highlight as an opener that makes it clear the different angle Destroyer is taking this time around. The instrumentation isn't quite as lush as the early 2010's material but it also isn't as dark and starkly presented as the bands last record. Even the attention grabbing way that the instrumentation shifts from synth bloops into steady drumming and back to those wiry electronic walls of sounds never feels like a trick. Save for a bit of dreamy languish around the 4:30 mark it's a strong use of 6 minutes and a gentle opener that's disguised as a surprising introduction. All My Pretty Dresses is the start of a really great run across the middle of the record which includes both of the singles. Dresses is driven by lavish piano and has some incredibly smooth refrains that should sound familiar and infectious to Destroyer fans. The song may not knock you off your feet immediately but I found it to be pretty appealing in the long term. 

Labyrinthitis is an instrumental cut that I think a lot of people will merely gloss over but I found it to be pretty interesting. The samples of what sounds like a child just spouting some nonsense, combined with the thick ambient haze adds a lot more to the record than your average instrumental.  It Takes A Thief is a short dancey little number with a huge selection of instrumentation that all comes together for an up tempo hurricane of a song. I love how it still manages to hold onto so much composure despite everything going on, it's definitely the song where the instrumental blitz attack makes the most sense. Finally the closing track The Last Song is a Destroyer classic. It's clever not only because the record's last song is sarcastically titled The Last Song, but the song manages to turn this into a kind of genuinely anthemic and uplifting conclusion. The biggest subversion of all is how simple the instrumental palette is given the massive selection of instrumentation deployed across the rest of the record.

One of my main issues with a few songs on the record is that the massive array of instrumentation deployed on the record isn't always necessary. Sometimes that results in silly indulgences, other times it wrecks songs by refusing to settle them down. June was the third single and across 6 minutes it has both highlights and some dull spots. Dan insulting snow angels is pretty funny but there's a lot of time spent with noodling instrumental passages. Despite its issues I love the track's final two minutes which pair metallic percussion with stream of consciousness rambling that comes off like a classic LCD Soundsystem song. Suffer has some jittery drums wrapping their way around Dan's refrains and it all comes off pretty sweet given the lyrical subject matter is about how everyone will inevitably suffer. This is all only slightly undercut by how much the song has going on between the vocals and instrumental interpolations. It almost gives off the impression that they were trying to use up all of a budget. 

The only song I actually didn't enjoy was The States which might be the most purely indulgent moment on the record. It's done in a very artsy way that is never really boring from a moment to moment standpoint, but makes it hard to recall much of anything from the full 7 minutes, even right after listening to it. 

Labyrinthitis has its moments and operates within a bassline of really high songwriting talent, but it never really reaches for that level of greatness that my favorite of the bands records do. While I still liked much more of this than I didn't, I can still imagine a version of the record with more focused instrumentation that keeps up the quality level of the first two singles. You kind of assume a Destroyer record is going to be great, as a testament to the great overall discography, but this one doesn't quite take that next step. 7.5/10

Album Cover Review by Tyler Judson:

I really enjoy the ideas in this cover. The composition is striking and keeps you eye moving throughout. Where it falls short is the coloring which looks too muddy and the subjects melding in with their surroundings. That could be a good or bad thing depending on if you want the viewer to search for more detail in the cover or take it as it is. It's lacking some branding or a strong identity as something other than a piece of cool art, but it's still an eye catching cover. 7/10

For more indie check out my review of The Weather Station's How Is It That I Should Look At The Stars here