Destroyer's Rubies (2006)

Offically one of the best records of the recently passed year, and one of the best records in my collection. Destroyer's Rubies manages to breed an earthly warmth and a subtle abstract poetic nature as to be lovely and rooted as well as dreamy and obtuse, always fluttering just on the edge of focus but retaining clear links to the human psyche. The themes of creation themselves, both on a personal and a spirtual level are prevalent, as well as the search for beauty, whether Dan Bejar intended or not. And with such a well crafted album, how could one not be so entrenched in the creation aspect as to not somehow pay reverence to the power of creation itself and the path itself, both in song and lyric? Dan Bejar reaches to the heavens with a lofty yet clattering orchestral swell to carry his homely folk tunes giving Rubies both its utterly human honesty and the soaring potential of human will.
Clearly Destroyer has given us a gem.