There have been numerous conversations occurring on alternative culture blogs talking about whether pop music has reached the point of undeath, becoming merely a ghost of the past irrelevant to our times. This is made noticeable by the fact that pop is losing its capacity for nihilation, an ability to destroy all that it is. Pop music is at its most vibrant self when it is calling into question the very notion of what pop music is. This is why The Smiths kick ass, but the Stone Roses are schmucks, why the Talking Heads are geniuses, but The Tom Tom Club are lame. In short, pop today, with its clean production, its bubble gum lyrics and its short shelf life is in need of some destruction.

This is why pop music needs Destroyer now more than ever. Destroyer is the brainchild of Vancouver songsmith Dan Bejar. Most commonly known for his occasional appearances with The New Pornographers, with Destroyer Bejar plays with the same pop sensibilities The Pornos are known for, while at the same time calling into question those very sensibilities. Take “The Sublimation Hour” from his album Streethawk: A Seduction. On first listen this sounds like it would fit seamlessly in between any New Pornographers song. However, with the unstable guitar, the unpredictable song structure (the unexplainable exploding sound halfway through, anyone?), you get the sense that more is at work here than straight-ahead pop.

The success gained from his association with The New Pornographers, coupled with the very solid Streethawk album, resulted in a record deal with Merge Records. However, rather than reverting back to Streethawk, Bejar responded with the noisy quasi-improvised This Night and the tribute to the MIDI synth Your Blues. Many found these albums to be a departure, which I don’t quite buy. Bejar is far too smart for this. Rather, he decides to point to new possibilities that serve as a rupture to what he has thus far been concerned with (ie. pop music). Songs like “Holly Going Lightly” and “What Road” serve purely as moments in which we are able to receive a glimpse of what pop could be, and are thus what is now to be expected (in an unpredictable way) from Destroyer.

In comes Destroyer’s Rubies which serves as yet another reminder of how Destroyer has always had destruction as part of his plan. This time the target is more focused on the culture and music surrounding “indie rock.” While both This Night and Your Blues pointed to this attack at times, with Rubies Destroyer makes this an all-out war, attacking “indie rock” from within the confines of itself. “European Oils” or “Painter in Your Pocket” sound like a retreat back to rock. Yet, Destroyer will always hold something up only to tear it all apart. If we look at all that Destroyer has done thus far Rubies is allowed to rock only insofar as it isn’t forced to.

It’s the penchant for destruction that makes Destroyer so fundamental to the larger narrative of pop music. Pop (and this, of course, includes “indie rock” as well) is becoming far too settled, far too sure of itself for it to continue to offer us anything significant. Sure, bands like Broken Social Scene and the Arctic Monkeys are putting out good records. But aren’t they also lacking the ability to call into question their very place in pop culture, maybe even the relevance of pop culture itself? We need more Destroyer’s, more artists who are able to look at where they are and ask, “How did I get here?” and not necessarily like what they see.

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