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photo: Ded Bois

Destroyer prep new LP 'Have We Met' & 2020 tour, share "Crimson Tide" video

Dan Bejar will be back with new Destroyer album Have We Met on January 31 via Merge. Kaputt fans take note: first single “Crimson Tide” is very much in that groovy, silky universe, though this is less overtly ’80s (no wailing sax) with more modern synth sounds. But it is pure Bejar goodness. The video for the song is notable for A) being a rare instance of Dan lip synch-ing, and b) is the soundtrack video for a movie that doesn’t exist. Director David Galloway explains:

Do you like the 1985 politico-dance-thriller White Nights? What about John Hughes’ controversial 1986 proleteeniat love letter to the hoi polloi, Pretty In Pink? What do these seminal films of the 1980s have to do with Destroyer’s overture to 2020, Have We Met? They are canonized not only by their groundbreaking and visionary contributions to Hollywood, they are escorted by the rarefied but much-maligned “movie tie-in music video”. So this is like that, only a little bit different. I don’t know if this particular movie is a “movie” in the traditional sense of the trope, and I don’t know if there will be a soundtrack. There might be a bootleg mix-tape, though.

That movie is Ashcroft: an ambiguous short, an art-house film that explores time, memory, fruit, the landscape of the British Columbia interior, and recovery from – and into – deception. “Ashcroft is not a place of passive rest, but rather an intoxicating playground for excavation and manipulation” is a quote from the filmmakers’ press release. Movies need songs [kind of] and songs need movies [videos?]. This is a music video about a movie, or for a movie, or really just with a movie. The point is: they love each other. With “Crimson Tide”, Destroyer introduces listeners to yet another version of the Bejar Enigma, and ushers viewers to seats in an alternate cinematic universe. The dramatic music video that ties in to film is a lost art. Or maybe it’s just a vulgar one. Either way, there’s no rotten tomatoes here. Only rotten apples.

Watch the “Crimson Tide” video, and check out Have We Met‘s artwork below.

Destroyer will also be on tour in 2020, beginning February 21 in Portland and wrapping up March 20 in Dan’s hometown of Vancouver. The first part of the tour is with Eleanor Friedberger while the second half is with Nap Eyes. The tour with Nap Eyes includes a stop at NYC’s Brooklyn Steel on March 7. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday, October 25 at 10 AM with presales starting Thursday (10/24) at 10 AM.

All tour date are listed below.

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Destroyer – Have We Met tracklist:
Crimson Tide 6:10
Kinda Dark 3:25
It Just Doesn’t Happen 5:01
The Television Music Supervisor 4:10
The Raven 3:35
Cue Synthesizer 3:55
University Hill 3:40
Have We Met 2:55
The Man in Black’s Blues 3:40
foolssong 5:45

Destroyer – 2019 Tour Dates:
Feb 21 Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater*
Feb 22 San Francisco, CA – August Hall*
Feb 23 Los Angeles, CA – Regent Theater*
Feb 24 Tucson, AZ – Club Congress*
Feb 26 Austin, TX – The Mohawk*
Feb 27 Dallas, TX – Club Dada*
Feb 28 Lawrence, KS – Granada Theater*
Feb 29 St. Paul, MN – Turf Club*
Mar 01 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall*
Mar 02 Detroit, MI – Deluxx Fluxx*
Mar 04 Toronto, ON – Opera House**
Mar 05 Montreal, QC – Theatre Fairmount**
Mar 06 Boston, MA – The Sinclair**
Mar 07 New York, NY – Brooklyn Steel**
Mar 08 Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts**
Mar 09 Washington, DC – Black Cat**
Mar 11 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle**
Mar 12 Atlanta, GA – Terminal West**
Mar 13 Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge**
Mar 14 St. Louis, MO – Blueberry Hill**
Mar 15 Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room**
Mar 16 Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater**
Mar 17 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge**
Mar 19 Seattle, WA – Neumos**
Mar 20 Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre**

*w/Eleanor Freidbeger
** w/Nap Eyes