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Destroyer aug17

Destroyer details new LP ken and shares lead single "Sky's Grey"

08 August 2017, 16:30 | Written by Laurence Day

Dan Bejar returns with news of ken, his twelfth studio record as Destroyer, and superb new single "Sky's Grey".

Unlike previous full-length Poison Season this release "was not recorded as a 'band' record" - although each member does contribute along the way. Destroyer's first album in two years was recorded by Black Mountain's Josh Wells (Destroyer's drummer since 2012), and was recorded at The Balloon Factory.

"Sometime last year, I discovered that the original name for 'The Wild Ones' (one of the great English-language ballads of the last 100 years or so) was 'Ken'," says Bejar of the album. "I had an epiphany, I was physically struck by this information. In an attempt to hold on to this feeling, I decided to lift the original title of that song and use it for my own purposes. It's unclear to me what that purpose is, or what the connection is. I was not thinking about Suede when making this record. I was thinking about the last few years of the Thatcher era. Those were the years when music first really came at me like a sickness, I had it bad. Maybe 'The Wild Ones' speaks to that feeling, probably why Suede made no sense in America. I think 'ken' also means 'to know'."

A deluxe vinyl edition of ken includes a bonus 7" featuring acoustic versions of "A Light Travels Down The Catwalk" and "Stay Lost".

Bejar has also detailed a new European tour, which kicks off in November in Germany. The run of dates includes UK and Irish shows, with a stop at London's Scala booked for 7 December. Find out full details.

Tracklist:

  1. Sky's Grey
  2. In The Morning
  3. Tinseltown Swimming In Blood
  4. Cover From the Sun
  5. Saw You At The Hospital
  6. A Light Travels Down The Catwalk
  7. Rome
  8. Sometimes In The World
  9. Ivory Coast
  10. Stay Lost
  11. La Regle Du Jeu
ken is released 20 October via Dead Oceans/Merge.
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