Destroyer - Poison Season

Kaputt was my way in to Destroyer, so I'm happy that this feels like a continuation / logical next evolution, in terms of what they're doing with brass and percussion. Delighted they've pushed it slightly away from sophisti-pop and towards jazz. Also loving what they're doing with strings. Faintly sad that there's not any ambient disco, as I loved those bits.

sophisti-pop signifiers?

Never mind, just figured out what sophisti-pop meant.

I don't like the word but it does nicely sum up a whole bunch of 80s pop that I've always found insufferable.

I was hoping for more soft rock saxophone/synthesizers and fretless bass on Poison Season. I just listened to it again and most of the songs I had to skip half way through. I guess I only need one Destroyer record in my life.

Crazy talk. The musicianship here is amazing, the songs are great, his singing is great, the lyrics are great. But I guess the relative lack of interest here compared to the Kaputt thread suggets that maybe ILM was primarily into that record because of its sophisti-pop signifiers rather than because of anything else. Which is a shame, because I think they're a great band.

well, my problem with this record is that there's not one song that I really like (so far) while there was always at least a couple in their previous albums that I know.
So it's an album I can play in the background for sure but there's no "meat" to me.

you don't like "Times Square"?

well it's alright.
but not particularly memorable...like the rest of the album !

I'm sorry... maybe watch the video? I liked it

I like the spanish EP much more, for instance !

fair enough! the best moments of Poison Season remind me of Rubies, so if you can't get on board w/ 'tall ships made of snow' then maybe this just ain't the album for you

oh I like Rubies !
anyway, yeah, I guess what they went for with this one is just not for me....

Immediate highlights = Dream Lover (raucous, exciting, radioplay), Archer On The Beach (familiar, dreamy, unfamiliar, jazzy), Midnight Meet The Rain (rocking, dramatic), Times Square (three times! Different versions, lovely strings on the first), Forces From Above (changes, crazy percussion, brass).

Hell reminds me of the Michael Nyman soundtrack to The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover

sorry that was meant to go in my diary

This album doesn't hit me as hard as Kaputt did, the first Destroyer album I've liked. I'm not sure it was the 'sophisti-pop signifiers', though I've learned to love Tango in the Night since. It was more the incredible atmosphere, the woozy soundscape, the lazy vocals, the dreamy lyrics about walking in strange city-scapes. That album to me is a world. Poison Season is an album, a collection of songs. And I like them, many of them, but it is a very different kind of album for me.

Tango in the Night is Sophistipop?

what is sophistipop, actually ?
is it anything beyond roxy music's "avalon" and B.Ferry's "boys and girls" ?

Destroyer covered Everywhere on their Kaputt-tour, and yeah, I thought that was sophisti-pop?

It's a retrospective genre name so it's in the ear of the beholder but I wouldn't include Tango in the Night. The Wikipedia entry lists most of my least favourite 80s bands.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophisti-pop

Alfred co-wrote a great Bluffer's Guide about it.

http://www.stylusmagazine.com/articles/bluffer/sophisti-pop.htm

this album is very pretty. it's no Kaputt part two but a pleasant listen. there are no stand out songs but i can see listening this a lot over the next few months.

Baffled by people saying there are no stand-out songs on this; individual songs have leapt up at me far quicker than Kaputt.

"You can fall in love with Times Square"

but the song you see

This album is far more song-based than Kaputt, and I'm baffled if at least Dream Lover doesn't immediately stand out for people.

I'm starting to like this a lot.

Thanks, Re-Make!

This album is far more song-based than Kaputt, and I'm baffled if at least Dream Lover doesn't immediately stand out for people.

Only had one run through this so far, but Dream Lover / Forces From Above hooked me in immediately. Love that cello on Forces ...

Destroyer covered Everywhere on their Kaputt-tour

pretty good album

"Times Square" is such a jam

love the "Young Americans guitar

the album as a whole hasn't hit nearly as hard as kaputt but i do really like 'times square'

"Times Square" sounded good live a few weeks ago.

I feel like I mentioned it on another Destroyer thread.

This album is growing on me big time. It's got a lot going on musically--i like the slightly dialed back word count--and the arrangements/production are really good.

Lots of nice trumpet moments

I like this, but I always skip "Dream Lover" because I think it's too noisy.

do you like Psychedelic Furs?

I had to look up "Pretty In Pink." A little too Billy Idol for me.

I love the backing horns on Sun in the Sky. Where can I hear more like that? Or is that part of the early Springsteen street rock sound?

Also, is the guitar part on The River played with a slide? I really love that slightly sitar-y guitar sound

xpost the opening of "Dream Lover" is kind of abrasive, especially late at night on a long drive when you've got the volume up for the lovely delicate opening track.

This has really grown on me - probably my second favourite of his now. Especially love The River and Times Square. I miss the sequencers etc. but there's still the all horn/guitar soloing that was so great on Kaputt. It feels like the album some band would have made just before turning to sequencers etc. for Kaputt in the 80s.

agree, strong album, grower, tried to figure out what track to nominate for an eoy vote but couldn't choose betw "times square", "dream lover", "the river", "midnight meet the rain"

trumpet is v good

I'll take my chances on the rain.

strong choice

This is pretty great--Bejar even cracks a couple of jokes! (posted it by accident on Kaputt thread)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxOL77KMcd8

the other day I found myself wondering how it's possible to be "in a windowless room / ... / overlooking the river"

which I see now, as I write this, in fact makes perfect sense [via double-entendre]

What a great video! Incredible sound production on these American radio stations, weird it doesn't translate into tv performances where sound ime is almost always unlistenable. Had tickets for destroyer Friday but can't go, glad I get to see these live takes of new tracks - gives a better sense of what's going on. Also nice to hear them play EU Oils, such a good band.

Reckon there's sort of a dirty pun in the "I seen Bangkok" line?

Ha, I don't know about the pun, but yes--amazing band, amazing filming!

^agreed. makes me sad I skipped that tour ;_;