Destroyer's Rubies (CD - 2006)

Personnel: Daniel Bejar (vocals, guitar, acoustic guitar, tambourine); Nicolas Bragg (guitar, acoustic guitar); Tim Loewen (electric guitar, bass guitar, background vocals); Scott Morgan (saxophone, baritone saxophone, drums); Fisher Rose (trumpet, vibraphone); Ted Bois (piano, organ, Wurlitzer organ, keyboards); John Collins (vibraphone, shaker).

Audio Mixer: JC/DC.

Recording information: DC (05/20/2005-07/23/2005); Jc (05/20/2005-07/23/2005).

Photographers: Ted Bois; Sydney Hermant.

Unknown Contributor Role: Martin Hall.

There are enough reasons for some listeners to dismiss Destroyer (aka Dan Bejar) right off--his self-consciously literate lyrics, his precious sense of theatricality, and his shameless David Bowie obsession, to name a few. Yet Bejar makes all of these potential liabilities work in his favor by building smart, absorbing, and remarkably well-crafted pop songs that sink in and then stick.

DESTROYER'S RUBIES, the artist's fifth solo album, is his most accomplished to date, and though it still owes a deep debt to HUNKY DORY-era Bowie, it truly shines with a sense of originality and integrity. Psychedelic, dreamy, sensitive, bitter, and slightly mad, Bejar is pushing the horizons of his own vision, yet his tunesmithery is sharper and more focused than ever. minimize