Twelfth studio album from Vancouver's Destroyer. ken was recorded in its entirety in the jam space/studio space that the group calls The Balloon Factory and was produced by Josh Wells of Black Mountain. Here's what Destroyer's Dan Bejar has to say about the album: 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." 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." Eleven tracks in all. Released by Merge Records on yellow vinyl housed in a full color sleeve with a bonus 7".

• yellow vinyl pressing
• includes bonus 7"
• release date: 10/20/17
• music label: Merge Records 2017

reviewed by Le Haim 08/2017