destroyer

Any self-proclaimed indie hipster should be listening to Dan Bejar at least once a week. Not only does his resume include supergroups Swan Lake and the New Pornographers, Bejar is easily one of the most stupefying songwriters out there-a sure sign of his indie credibility.

For better or for worse, Bejar's latest release under the Destroyer moniker, called Trouble in Dreams, finds him doing more of the same. Though Dreams unfortunately lacks the same zing as Bejar's 2006 release, Destroyer's Rubies, it is still an intriguing effort.

The album opens with the laid back "Blue Flower/Blue Flame," a song that serves as a reminder to what kind of musician Bejar is. He teases his listeners with bizarre lyrics like "A woman by another name is not a woman/I'll tell you what I mean by that/Maybe not in seconds flat/Maybe never." However, the mysteries of his words eventually rope the listener in, and Bejar descends into a guitar-driven frenzy reminiscent of Pavement circa Crooked Rain.

After track one, each song feels like its own mini symphony. The six-minute "My Favorite Year" evinces Bejar's ability to perfectly match musical composition with lyrical poetry.

Dreams' longest track, the eight-minute "Shooting Rockets," feels like the quintessential Destroyer song. Bejar abuses every technique he has been come to be known for, including meta songwriting ("A chorus is a thing that bears repeating") and referencing his own music ("Saw you in Swan lake/You were great"). These laughable Bejar-specific cliches probably deserve criticism, but it's these flaws that make Destroyer so lovable.

"Libby's First Sunrise" ends the album. Though unremarkable compared to the rest of the songs, it echoes the first track. By bringing the album full-circle, Bejar demonstrates his compositional savvy. He makes the album a complete work rather than just a compilation of mismatched songs.

By the end of the album, you still have no idea what Bejar is singing about. And for whatever reason, that's okay. Dreams is not Bejar's best, but it's as cryptically brilliant as anything else Bejar has released. It may strike you as confused, but the best thing to do is sit back and enjoy the unintelligible beauty that is Destroyer.