Destroyer

Dan Bejar, Canada's greatest songwriter, drops his fourth full-length album as Destroyer, and it's another scathing indictment of the music industry, the apathy of his generation, and his desire to blow it all up in a spectacular display of disgust and destruction. And having already put his money where his mouth is, so to speak, when he ditched the New Pornographers on their way up, it seems to be only a matter of time before Bejar gives up on commodifying his muse and stops recording albums altogether. Until then, fans of catchy pop, political rock, poetic musing and visionary instrumentation should embrace Streethawk: A Seduction. It's less a cohesive concept album than 1999's Thief, his last effort, but many of the same themes are revisited. And Bejar continues to hang on the edge of really letting loose his cannons — the abruptly cut-off explosion during "The Bad Arts" (about talentless sell-out hacks) demonstrates his restraint. The powers that be should make funding all his recording efforts from now on a priority; keeping him in the studio would keep him off the streets, and at this point, that would be in their best interests.