Artist: Destroyer
Songs: Stay Lost + Helena + Cue Synthesizer + Streets of Fire
Recorded at The Great Hall, October 21, 2018.
It'd been, oh, say five-and-a-half years since I'd seen Den Bejar in action and this excursion for a solo acoustic set actually came about as the result of a last-minute invitation. A nice chance to catch up on what I'd missed, with an hour-long set that offered a smattering of tunes from last year's Ken while ranging all the way back to "a song I wrote twenty years ago on an acoustic guitar". There were also a pair of brand-new songs, including "Cue Synthesizer", which both in its cadences and worldview ("the idea of the world is no good") leave it begging for a cover version by The Mountain Goats.
Meanwhile, while hammering his songs into coffehouse versions it was pleasing to see that time has mellowed Dan Bejar a bit — my memories of his stage persona included tightly-closed eyes and an unspeaking robe of vague discomfort which has now advanced all the way into the realm of engaging the audience with awkward banter ("here's a song I enjoy singing at all my concerts"). In these troubled times, that the sort of progress that seems like a glimmer of light and hope.
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