Destroyer’s “Times Square” is a sly song. Dan Bejar would have you think Poison Season was something sharp and hazy. Not off-putting, but a little less inviting, where songs are made to waltz the boulevards engrossed in sleepy contemplation. Okay, sure, you’ve got a damn fine rocker in “Dream Lover,” but most of the songs drag their feet through their pensive beauty.
And then there’s the centerpiece, the ode to the starlight bustle of New York’s Times Square. While Poison Season humbles itself and the world around it, “Times Square” lights up with all of glam rocks calling cards. Like David Bowie in Berlin, there’s a sense of devotion to Bejar’s metropolis. Like Lou Reed, there’s respect for New York’s seedy soul. Like Marc Bolan, there’s a reluctant pop rock genius. Behind the roaring guitars and the bombastic horns, there’s a wit — Bejar has more than a pop song on his mind.
Flanked by slow dances, “Times Square” jumps through allegories and warnings. Jesus is accused and Jacob’s decimated. So are Judy and Jack. Record companies mold their artists for the invisible hand of the radio world. But even Bejar, the pop culture skeptic who assumes the worse, finds himself entranced by Times Square’s glow. As the saxophone flows, the guitars sing and the beat kicks, “Times Square” gets lost in that pop rock dream of bright lights, Broadway swagger and jaded romantics.