122: Destroyer - Bologna (Ft. Fiver)
I first got into Destroyer via Kaputt, an all-time Top 20 album for me, and one so arrestingly brilliant it took me a while to venture away from. Perhaps it was the apparent slight mis-step in its long-awaited follow-up, 2015's Poison, but Dan Bejar has since made amends on the mighty fine double act of 2020's Have We Met? and 2022's Labyrinthitis; two album's that reaffirmed and redefined his genius.
Today, Bejar has announced his third album in five years, with Dan's Boogie set to be released at the tail-end of March and featuring nine brand new songs. The first of those recordings is Bologna, an infectiously pretty, eminently playful track that blooms this new chapter like a radiant flower.
Said to do "things no Destroyer album to this point has ever done", the album's written intro says the LP's "nine songs imagine Bejar as a lounge singer, a hustler, and, at times, a supporting character in his own fantasies."
Such sentiments certainly rush to the fore on Bologna. Scattered percussion and low-lamp moodiness set the tone, the song rolling out like a soundtrack to some part-seedy, part-romantic city night; all twinkling reflections and restrained hedonism.
The song features vocals from Fiver's Simone Schmidt, who Dan brought into the mix after initially struggling to capture the mood he imagined. “I haven’t written many songs like Bologna,” Bejar says. “I struggled singing the first and third verses, the most important parts of the song. They needed gravity and grit. The threat of disappearing needed to be real. So I called Simone.”
The results are decadent and intoxicating, a whole new world to discover from an artist who continues to redefine the parameters of his craft; to seek out the wild magic in the dead of night.
~
three / six / five is a daily music-sharing project from gold flake paint; read more about the idea here
If you enjoy this content please consider a paid subscription ~ or buy GFP a cup of coffee via ko-fi
E m b r a c e
S i n c e r i t y
