Your Blues

Recorded with the production duo JC/DC (aka David Carswell and John Collins) -- who aided in the creation of Destroyer's first three discs -- Dan Bejar ditches the band format he used for 2002's This Night with tremendous results. Fusing a dramatic vocal style akin to that of David Bowie in the 1970s with 1980s studio achievers like Microdisney and Prefab Sprout, Your Blues is regularly breathtaking. Launched with the strummed guitar of "Notorious Lightning," Behar soon expands on his vision with the bright, synth-conceived orchestration of "An Actor's Revenge" and the fabulous, adventurous pop of "The Music Lovers." Sure, the long a cappella intro on the title cut is hard to take, but Destroyer's records are never without a challenge or two. Still, Behar quickly redeems himself with the tongue-in-cheek "New Ways of Living," which pokes fun at mid-'80s pop drama queens with lyrical and musical finesse. The flute-laced "It's Gonna Take an Airplane" is the high point here, with lyrics like "Baby, you were born to be seen/And art's just the start," but late-model standouts like the Hunky Dory-inspired "What Road" and the haunting closer, "Certain Things You Ought to Know," all help make Your Blues 2004's early front-runner for art rock album of the year. ~ John D. Luerssen|