January 2011 – Page 24 – Modern Mystery

The cover of Valleys’ newest release, Stoner EP, is well suited to the mood of this three song spell: an image of tainted youth in the form of a young girl painted with Day of the Dead-like makeup. The music is dark and eerie, almost Wiccan, while retaining some sweetness with the celestial, soothing female vocals best showcased on “Ordinary Dream.”

As with the other songs on the EP, the soft vocals are offset by aggressive guitar and drums made jagged by the fuzzy feedback and reverb. This track is appropriately titled as it is deliciously dreamlike with lyrics like “your eyes are steadfast” that melt into the song.

“Ten Thousand Hours” begins with rumbling drums and a steady keyboard line that leads into static and noise as the introduction to the screaming of upset male vocals. In comes a feedback solo that seriously lasts several minutes, during which the mind wanders from the song until it is lured back in by the keyboard and reminded that there is actual music here. As soon as that happens, the song has come to an end.

“The Cold Cold Skinny” starts with ominous xylophone and girl and guy voices singing in unison, with a regimented rhythm that sounds like a chant. Distressed electric guitar in conjunction with shrill, tense keys becomes a recipe for a scene in a horror film, made even moreso with the creepy lyric “Walk into the evening with your cold, cold skinny legs.”

These three songs strategically serve as a tease or a taste, rather, to what this band may be all about, but more must be heard to discover what that really is. From Stoner EP, we get experimental rock, sultry feminine vocals and lyrics with cryptic imagery.

Dan Bejar has been putting out music for over fifteen years under the name Destroyer; essentially, that means he has pumping out indie music ever since a little movie entitled Braveheart was released. That is a long time. This was a faraway time where Mel Gibson had not yet gone ape-shit and “social networking” meant hanging around the water-cooler. Let’s just say Destroyer is a mature band that has experimented with all types of sounds and if it was a smooth bachelor, it would know all the moves to get you in the sack.

The band’s lucky thirteenth release, Kaputt, starts off by seducing the listener. The opener “Chinatown” gives the listener exactly what they want to hear: a nice rhythmic guitar, polished vocals, and even accents of horns. Just when you think you are being sweet-talked, your suspicions are confirmed with the following fantastic single “Blue Eyes”. A song that was taken straight out of the 1950s via a weird Sammie Kaye time machine. The accompanying female vocals on the track are magnificent. “Savage Night of The Opera” and probably the best song on the album, “Suicide Demo for Kara Walker”, are pure delights and the first half of the album takes you to a time where music uplifted spirits and was amorous.

Unfortunately, the second half of the album aside from the fantastic closer “Bay of Pigs” shows a loss of steam and lyrics like “Wasting your days/Chasing some girls/Alright/Chasing cocaine to the back-rooms of the world all night” followed by the overuse of jazz horns is to the narrowest of margins pleasing. It is as though Destroyer made two albums; the first half of Kaputt is the correct way to make a reappraising of 1950s-esque music and the second half is littered with mediocre jazz.

All in all, it is okay because as the album closes, Destroyer has delivered the hits just like any crafty veteran manages to do in the time it is given. Kaputt is a blast; the musicianship for the most part is great, lyrics are interesting albeit a few eye-rolling moments, and there are a handful of catchy singles.