Albums to watch

Poison Season

Destroyer

Poison Season

Album number ten from the Canadian indie rock band fronted by New Pornographers member Dan Bejar

ADM rating[?]

7.7

Label
Merge Records / Dead Oceans
UK Release date
28/08/2015
US Release date
28/08/2015
  1. 10.0 |   The Skinny

    Poison Season’s true nature is more nuanced and idiosyncratic, taking cues from a spectrum of influences from chamber pop to nocturnal jazz
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  2. 10.0 |   Pretty Much Amazing

    Resembles nothing else on the musical landscape today. But deep influences and orthogonal comparisons do flash into mind during its 53-minute runtime
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  3. 10.0 |   NOW

    A droll, wondrous travelogue of storied metropolitan meccas
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  4. 9.1 |   A.V. Club

    Poison Season is the sound of an artist in complete control of the strange chaos around him
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  5. 9.0 |   All Music

    Nearly 20 years on, Destroyer is still as surprising and inspired as ever
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  6. 9.0 |   Exclaim

    The band still sound as vital and inventive as ever, and they're operating at the top of their game on Poison Season
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  7. 9.0 |   Drowned In Sound

    Wilfully unwilling to cut corners towards accessibility
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  8. 9.0 |   The Line Of Best Fit

    A piece of art
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  9. 8.0 |   DIY

    It’s novelistic. It’s smart. Of course it is, it’s a Destroyer album
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  10. 8.0 |   Spectrum Culture

    Dan Bejar has an ear for melancholy, and every record he’s ever made as Destroyer refracts sadness in new shades
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  11. 8.0 |   musicOMH

    Poison Season is another excellent Destroyer album, packed with songs that are graceful, beautiful and, yes, hummable
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  12. 8.0 |   NME

    Bejar’s dismantled the old Destroyer sound, but he’s built something wonderfully disorientating in its stead
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  13. 8.0 |   No Ripcord

    Most of Poison Season remains vague, open to wild interpretation, and yet there’s a connective thread in how it incorporates the concept of ambivalence in a cutthroat environment
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  14. 8.0 |   Slant Magazine

    It's starkly divergent in some of its pre-pop balladic tendencies while also remaining atmospherically redolent of its predecessor, as in its liberal use of alto sax and flute
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  15. 8.0 |   Spin

    On Poison Season, Bejar’s new trappings may suggest self-sabotage, but the tremendously assured songcraft says otherwise
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  16. 8.0 |   Uncut

    This Zen archer lets fly with his second straight bullseye
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  17. 8.0 |   Mojo

    It's full of wistful and lovely music. Print edition only

  18. 8.0 |   Q

    Bejar’s gifts are abundant, but they work best when not at blinding full-beam. Print edition only

  19. 8.0 |   The Observer

    A luxurious creation, dappled in sunlight, and summoning all the redemptive power of pop
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  20. 8.0 |   Tiny Mix Tapes

    Spend enough time in Destroyer’s world, and you’re bound to come away with at least one line that lingers long after it passes
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  21. 8.0 |   The FT

    Demands an old-fashioned listening response, to sit with the record sleeve tracing Dan Bejar’s opaque poeticisms
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  22. 7.6 |   Pitchfork

    On Poison Season, you can occasionally detect the dismaying sound of indie rock's greatest intellect second-guessing itself
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  23. 7.5 |   Consequence Of Sound

    Poison Season is beautiful, haunting, thrilling, but inherently challenging, as Bejar challenges himself and his listeners equally
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  24. 7.0 |   The Music

    Genius? Goat? Our money's on a bit of both
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  25. 7.0 |   Loud And Quiet

    Dan Bejar remains indie rock’s last great shapeshifter, and it’s hard not to hear this as a stepping stone to another masterpiece
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  26. 7.0 |   Rolling Stone

    Songs that are as wryly hilarious as they are weirdly affecting
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  27. 7.0 |   Clash

    A set of beautifully realised songs
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  28. 6.5 |   Beardfood

    For once, the tunes don't match. They're devoid of that typical Bejar magic
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  29. 6.5 |   Under The Radar

    It's not bad, and it certainly has its moments. But on the heels of Kaputt, it can be a frustrating, uneven listen
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  30. 6.0 |   The Irish Times

    Broken into manageable sections it’s an often a joyous listen
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  31. 5.5 |   Crack

    At times you could be forgiven for thinking you’re listening to a Disney soundtrack or the cast recording of a Broadway show
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  32. 5.0 |   Gig Soup

    An uneven album of equal highs and lows
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  33. 3.8 |   Earbuddy

    In a year packed to burst with fantastic albums from singer-songwriters, this is a massive disappointment
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Destroyer: Poison Season

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