Single LP on black vinyl in single jacket with 12 x 12 insert. Includes coupon for full download

Dan Bejar initially conceived of Have We Met, his 13th album as Destroyer, as a Y2K album. He was already active during the era but not heard overhead in a cafe or salon, which is perhaps what the idea of the Y2K sound evokes nearly two decades later. Bejar assigned frequent producer and bandmate John Collins the role of layering synth and rhythm sections over demos with the period-specific Bjork, Air, and Massive Attack in mind, but he soon realized the sonic template was too removed from Destroyers own, and the idea of a concept was silly anyway. So he abandoned it and gave Collins the most timeless instruction of all: Make it sound cool.

The result is not a startling departure from 2017s new-wavey, Thatcher-era yearning ken, but unlike that more bandoriented approach, the only actual instruments that appear here are bass and electric guitar. MIDI instrumentation will of course invite Your Blues and Kaputt nostalgia, the two other John Collins-heavy affairs, and to some degree thats valid. Each contrasts cavernous empty space and synthetic sounds, but rather than whimsical theatrics or sleazy orchestral pop, Have We Met is buoyed by precise, plasticky guitar shredding three-dimensionally across massive percussionthe loudest and dirtiest drums on a Destroyer record to date.

Tracklist:

1. Crimson Tide
2. Kinda Dark
3. It Just Doesnt Happen
4. The Television Music Supervisor
5. The Raven
6. Cue Synthesizer
7. University Hill
8. Have We Met
9. The Man in Blacks Blues
10. foolssong

UPC: 673855070919
Label: Merge Records
Release Date: 1.31.20
Format: Vinyl