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Critic Reviews
100
It's an easy Destroyer album to love, approachable as both a collection of strong rock songs and a literary exercise in just how far songs can stretch to make sense of the words within them.
15y
92
Bejar sells this, repackaged with a gloss of eccentric abstraction, decorated with tangential jam sequences, multiple refrains scattered throughout each track, and enough consistency in symbol and imagery to persuade the poetry seekers that there’s a coherent theme to be divined.
11y
91
Hooky, spare, and lush all at once, guitars flutter, drums roll, the piano sits under a snifter, and Bejar's elliptical lyrics still confound.
11y
90
The only thing about Destroyer's Rubies that might shock existing fans is that Bejar's execution, ambition and passion have been buffed to a high shine.
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3y
90
Here inside this pink plushy work, this stadium sized blister of rock perfection, this pristine achievement of musical synthesis and epic intention - is everything you need to begin your tax-deductible Destroyer autopsy.
13y
90
Much like John Darnielle, everything outside of Bejar’s verse should be seen as peripheral — a means to deliver the lyrical ends. Within this context, it’s hard to deny Bejar’s excellence in his chosen medium.
8y
85
Encapsulating and elevating the best of Destroyer's back catalog, Destroyer's Rubies serves as a potent reminder that the intelligence of Bejar's songs has never obfuscated their emotional weight.
15y
83
With Destroyer’s Rubies, his insider snipes at indie-rock pretense show Wildean wit. Yet his rhymes are equally fun for outsiders: glammy, hammy, and riding guitar-powered chamber-rock roller coasters.
10y
80
Destroyer's Rubies is an inadvertent Guide To Destroyer - every defining quirk, every 70's pop nod and ill-advised but forgivable falsetto is condensed and framed, only without becoming something fans of Bejar will have all heard before.
15y
80
Almost everything Destroyer records is the sound of a struggle, and Destroyer's Rubies might be the most endearing confession to date.
15y
80
Bejars songs have, in the past, sometimes seemed like vehicles for his lyrics, yet with Destroyer’s Rubies he seems to have made peace with the musical element of his work as well.
15y
80
Rubies is heavy on pop craft ... but it's more than just the art-house theater to the Pornographers' Twin Cinema, it's the absinthe-drunk projectionist reveling in the sheer hedonism of it all.
15y
80
The importance of keeping your pop songs focused while pursuing Built To Spill/Flaming Lips-style grandiosity can’t be stressed enough, and Bejar has come up golden with Rubies.
4y
80
The most intriguing part of the songs on Destroyer's Rubies is their meta-ness -- every track contains sonic references to different moments in 20th-century rock, from the Hendrix-Dylan mash-up on Sick Priest Learns To Last Forever to the Pixies echoes on 3000 Flowers.
10y
70
Adventuruous fare, somewhat mellower than previous efforts, but equally sporadic and striking.
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3y
The The’s ‘Soul Mining’ suffered a long while from existing in the shadow of my favourite album of all time, its follow up ‘Infected’. A similar thing's happened here, as ‘Rubies’ has always been held back by me comparing it directly with my second favourite album of all time, ‘Kaputt’.
In both cases the critics and fans were split as to which is the band’s classic but it’s time to acknowledge ‘Rubies’ deserves ... read more
So I'm walking side by side with the love of my life along the River Thames in the early hours of the night. To my disappointment, it isn't everything I dreamed it'd be. The stars are hidden behind a blanket of clouds, the air is kinda stuffy, and the river itself smells a little off. But I say something about it all that makes my girl laugh and I realize that there is nowhere else in the world I'd rather be than beside her. Then I think that if the scenery isn't going to amaze her then I'm ... read more
This kinda just flies right past me, like the songwriting on here is heavily referential and I guess I didn't do the assigned reading so now I'm at a loss. Most songs just feel like vaguely poetic ramblings and don't speak to me in any personal way. The instrumentals are pleasant enough throughout but rarely leave a big impact outside of the opening track.
Favs: Rubies, Watercolours into the Ocean, Painter In Your Pocket
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Track List
| 1 | Rubies 9:25 | 93 |
| 2 | Your Blood 4:15 | 90 |
| 3 | European Oils 4:54 | 94 |
| 4 | Painter In Your Pocket 4:10 | 94 |
| 5 | Looters' Follies 7:26 | 90 |
| 6 | 3000 Flowers 3:46 | 80 |
| 7 | A Dangerous Woman Up to a Point 6:02 | 87 |
| 8 | Priest's Knees 3:08 | 82 |
| 9 | Watercolours Into the Ocean 4:46 | 89 |
| 10 | Sick Priest Learns to Last Forever 5:53 | 80 |
Total Length: 53 minutes
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3mo
There has never been a pop rock album that has really come about that has affected me in the same way as this album has. Apart from like shit by the Beatles.
