Destroyer, KOKO
Following the success of their new album Poison Season, the uncompromising Destroyer come to KOKO
Destroyer, Photograph: Dead Oceans
Destroyer’s Dan Bejar is a tricky person to pin down. From one-man-and-his-guitar home recordings to synth-haunted epics, his twenty-year output is an eloquent rebuttal of genre purism.
Critics of Bejar’s work might accuse him of pretention and with titles that cite Nathaniel Hawthorne’s romances and pop lyrics that make unashamed use of the word ‘avuncular’ they might just have a case. But at his best, Bejar’s music is as heartfelt as it is cerebral. 2015’s Poison Season hits this sweet spot. “The evening progresses like a song into the heavens,” Bejar swoons on ‘Forces From Above’, horns erupting all around him. As so often on the album, the music is elevated, not stymied, by its poetic ambition. Across some fifty two minutes, Poison Season is a joyous marriage of heart and head.
Having sold out an early performance at Islington Assembly Hall, Destroyer’s June 15 performance at Koko is sure to prove popular, no doubt bolstered by Poison Season’s inevitable inclusion in the year’s ‘best of’ lists.
Critics of Bejar’s work might accuse him of pretention and with titles that cite Nathaniel Hawthorne’s romances and pop lyrics that make unashamed use of the word ‘avuncular’ they might just have a case. But at his best, Bejar’s music is as heartfelt as it is cerebral. 2015’s Poison Season hits this sweet spot. “The evening progresses like a song into the heavens,” Bejar swoons on ‘Forces From Above’, horns erupting all around him. As so often on the album, the music is elevated, not stymied, by its poetic ambition. Across some fifty two minutes, Poison Season is a joyous marriage of heart and head.
Having sold out an early performance at Islington Assembly Hall, Destroyer’s June 15 performance at Koko is sure to prove popular, no doubt bolstered by Poison Season’s inevitable inclusion in the year’s ‘best of’ lists.
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| What | Destroyer, KOKO |
| Where | Koko, 1a Camden High Street , London, NW1 7JE | MAP |
| Nearest tube | Mornington Crescent (underground) |
| When |
On 15 Jun 16, Doors at 19:00 |
| Price | £20.25 |
| Website | Click here to book via Ticketweb |