Beast Moans
Look, it's a Destroyer
album! Psyche. There's no mistaking Dan Bejar's voice, and this
album starts off with him strongly behind the mic. Despite his
singing, the music accompanying him isn't exactly the soaring
Bowie-esque show tunes that spell Destroyer. It's something
a bit more sinister swirling around back there. Then the murk
starts. The second song sounds a bit like Satan getting it on
in a big cathedral (maybe that's beast moaning?). I was on a
soccer team a long time ago. We had really strong players, but
we couldn't win a single game. Granted, our goalie kinda sucked,
but individually, we would have brought really good things to
any other team in the league, but as a team we just stunk. Maybe
it's the whole "you're only as strong as your weakest link"
thing. And no matter what I do, I can't help but put this one
on the Frog Eyes guy. You can sense
Bejar and the Wolf Parade dude
in there, but no matter how hard I try, I can't get into Frog
Eyes. And I think he drags them down. I remember how excited
I was for this one, but the reverb and echoey evil thing had
ruined my taste for it. Oh well. |
Enemy Mine
This album comes roaring out of the gates
with “Spanish Gold, 2044,” one of my favorite songs of 2009,
and must be a Mercer song based on its off-kilter approach.
The question with Swan Lake is always, “Where are they gonna
go from here?” It’s always a crapshoot, with three guys splitting
frontman duties in this, the ultimate nerdy Canadian (and not
in a Rush kind of way) indie rock dream band. Are we gonna get
a soaring Bowie-esque jaunt from Bejar (of New
Pornographers and Destroyer),
a jaunty pirate tune from Krug (of Wolf
Parade and Sunset Rubdown)
or a primordial dirge from Mercer (of Frog
Eyes)? Or maybe something in between. The answer is soon
apparent as "Paper Lace" follows as the second track,
which is actually a track in different form from Sunset Rubdown’s
Dragonslayer album. That must mean Bejar is up third!
And there he is with his lovely "Heartswarm" on track 3. It’s
just always hard to tell with these supergroups if they’re giving
you the best stuff they have, or if you’re getting the cast-offs
from their fulltime bands. After all, it’s pretty clear from
track to track who is the mind behind each. Don’t get me wrong,
there is some really good stuff here, but it’s almost like getting
a really tiny bowl of delicious French onion soup, a tiny steak
and a little itty-bitty chocolate desert. They’re all delicious
in their own right, and as a whole pretty satisfying, but sometimes
you just want a big fuckin’ steak or a big fuckin slice of chocolate
cake. I guess that’s what their proper albums are for… |
Musical Connections:
Frog Eyes
The New Pornographers
Sunset Rubdown
Wolf Parade
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