Destroyer - Poison Season

very enjoyable easy listening

There are some nice textures and the rocking (which happens too rarely) generally excites, but the lyric that sticks with me after ~one listen is "You float down the Rhine, clutching a plastic bag" & that's only memorable because it's so transparent

some plastic bags are opaque fyi

Poison season: the night in which all bags show thru

After falling in love with Kaputt, this one was like listening to his previous releases, a huge let down.

Can't believe anyone would be bored by this, it covers so much ground and has so much going on (and sometimes barely anything at all). Loving it.

And I can't believe anyone would think it sounds like Rubies, Streethawk, Your Blues, Thief or any of the other pre-Kaputt albums.

Yeah, this is definitely a post-Kaputt album. He's said it was partly about trying to capture the sound of the band that had evolved from playing Kaputt live.

My dislike of Kaputt was solely down to my visceral hatred of sophisti-pop signifiers and anything that resembles Prefab Sprout - it was never the songs, the words, the voice (OK, maybe a little bit the voice) - so I'm delighted with 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.

saw them last night - what an incredible show

the sax was kinda buried in the mix, unfortunately

already bummed i didnt buy the black and yellow tee-shirt at the merch booth.. if anyones seeing them in the next couple months let me know!!

I also kinda regret not getting the t-shirt!

sound was not very good when I saw them though

been relistening to this. It holds up really well. I think it's the best destroyer album.