Destroyer’s “Trouble in Dreams” is a soup of Bob Dylan, The Beatles; a little Skynard mixed with pinches of Bowie and Stephen Malkmus. Dan Bejar, from The New Pornographers, uses Destroyer as a side project and “Trouble in Dreams” is Bejar’s eighth album with his side group. The album features rainy day piano, melancholy strings, and breezy guitars that create a unique but accessible sound. The instruments then create layers of sound with strong melodies that accent the abstract lyrics lifted by Bejar’s a faux falsetto voice.
Take “Blue Flower, Blue Flame”, the album’s opening track features a stunning showcase of the beauty on “Trouble in Dreams”, Bejar mixes delicate piano riffs and dreamy strings with a Dylanesque enigma in the lyrics. A perfect example of his coded lyrics is the line “a woman by another name is not a woman, I’ll tell ya what I mean by that maybe not in seconds flat or even today”. Bejar’s pop chops shine on “Foam Hands,” which presents infectious hooks laden searching guitar sections and once again intriguing and abstract lyrics. His jagged blues and classic rock side surfaces in "The State". The flow of the intricate almost underwater sounding instruments and unkempt lyrics should keep all who hear it captivated from start to finish. “My Favorite Year”, the albums highlight, has enough music to create three or four songs. The intro begins with layers of poppy chamber like sounds that moves into a middle section with enigmatic lyrics and guitars that shift into the song’s unsettling but whimsical conclusion. Each layer is like a part of a wedding cake and each section helps create the delicious final product. Bejar’s romantic Bowie side comes out for split second in the witty “Shooting Rockets” which uses edgy poppy melodies to make it stand out.
Consequently, “Trouble in Dreams” contains a few flaws and “Introducing Angels” and “The River” jumps out as a less than perfect pieces. Bejar can’t decide whether to channel Dylan or Bowie in both songs and the resulting mashup causes a run of the mill sound that loses the poignancy of the other tracks. Bejar quickly corrects his missteps in the closing song “Libby’s First Sunrise”. It is a straightforward and gentle end to “Trouble in Dreams” and it holds all of the positive aspects of Destroyer’s sound mixed into its framework.
In the end, Bejar opens the door to his mind and his soul enough to let the light shine through the cracks and let the listener peer in. Sometimes though, the camouflage in his lyrics and a group of run of the mill songs bring the album down. Nonetheless, “Trouble in Dreams” endures as a reflective and impressive effort.
