Destroyer

For three of his last four albums (1998's City of Daughters, 2000's Thief and 2001's Streethawk: A Seduction), Dan Bejar has been one of Canada's best songwriters, raising the bar on intelligent, glamorous rock music. It was inevitable, perhaps, but for the first time the bubble has burst with This Night. Like seeing a favourite magician too many times, This Night's tricks now seem familiar, but gone is the sense of delight and surprise that accompanied his previous work. While he's amped up the bombast and fleshed out the arrangements, his new backing band jumps around like enthusiastic puppies, seemingly unaware that the source of Destroyer's power is sly and understated. Bejar's tendency to quote other songs folds inward as he references himself on several occasions, and they now seem played out instead of cleverly self-referential. For the first time, his songs overstay their welcome, often well past the four-minute mark. He also shows cracks in the armour of his impeccable taste - the pseudo whip-cracking percussion on flamenco-flavoured "The Chosen Few" gives the impression that Zorro will ride in on a black horse at any moment. The space laser effects on "Modern Painters" are a ridiculous touch, added to a song so rife with "Bejar-isms" you wonder if he won't be sued for self-plagiarism. This Night, at least on the surface, contains all the elements of his earlier records (well, not the piercing lyrical insight) but it doesn't last, nor does it draw you back to it as his previous records have. No doubt he's got more talent in one guitar strum than many rock pretenders, but by working in his own already-perfected idiom, This Night can't help but suffer by comparison.