Destroyer and New Order: Theatrical in Completely Different Ways

Photographer Michael Schmelling
January 04, 2012

New Order: Totally a group that was theatrical in all the right ways. Even at their most melancholy, there were glints of light that shone through. It's a sound that multiple generations of bands have tried to capture, and none have ever been able to do it as well as the group itself. Except Orgy. Just Kidding. Destroyer is also theatrical in all the right ways, but more in an overly-verbose-and-honestly-if-you-want-to-go-there-Dan-Bejar-sounds-like-an-elf-or-gnome-or-woodsprite-or druid kind of way. Which is cool! Kaputt was great, Rubies was also great. So was Trouble in Dreams and pretty much everything that came before it. Destroyer covering New Order, though? Weird times. It's like if the black spy and the white spy from Spy Vs. Spy crashed into each other. Similar techniques, totally different vibes. But it works! Bejar is great at emotion, letting his voice lilt and bounce and fall between the leaden bounce and glorious open-sky feeling that New Order did so well. MOJO is putting out a whole compilation of New Order covers, listen to the rest right here.

Stream: Destroyer, "Leave Me Alone" (New Order Cover) (via Pitchfork)

Destroyer and New Order: Theatrical in Completely Different Ways