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100It's an easy Destroyer album to love, approachable as both a collection of strong rock songs and a literary exercise in just how far songs can stretch to make sense of the words within them.
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Destroyer's Rubies evinces an awareness of a feeling that "I've heard something like this before, and really enjoyed it" while denying the listener enough material specifics to follow-up with "It was on this record, recorded by this band, which I listened to when I was this old."
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91In context, Rubies [is] just another piece of the puzzle, but it's the finest jewel yet. [#19, p.99]
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91Hooky, spare, and lush all at once. [Mar 2006, p.95]
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90A singular, rhapsodic triumph. [Apr 2007, p.94]
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The only thing about Destroyer's Rubies that might shock existing fans is that Bejar's execution, ambition and passion have been buffed to a high shine. [Apr/May 2006, p.102]
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Those who choose to fixate on Bejar's lack of a pretty singing voice are missing the point. Much like John Darnielle, everything outside of Bejar's verse should be seen as peripheral -- a means to deliver the lyrical ends.
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90This is the defining Destroyer work because of its size and scope, because of its melodicism ("Painter in Your Pocket" the hottest pop song Bejar's authored yet), because of the caliber of its musical chops, and because of the shots Bejar continues to fire.
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It's tempting to spend hours excavating metaphors and translating references on a record this complex and interesting, but Destroyer's Rubies also works well as pop.
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The stupendous Destroyer's Rubies, recorded with a full, swaggering band, is maybe his best and certainly his least theoretical album.
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90In drawing on the theatrical, macro-orchestrations reminiscent of Scott Walker and expanding on the slapdash, quirky, musical humor of the Red Krayola's Mayo Thompson, this album reaches another peak for Bejar and is one of Destroyer's best works yet.
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90Destroyer's Rubies is every bit as marvelous as his landmark Streethawk: A Seduction.
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85Encapsulating and elevating the best of Destroyer's back catalog, Destroyer's Rubies serves as a potent reminder that the intelligence of Bejar's songs has never obfuscated their emotional weight.
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His insider snipes at indie-rock pretense show Wildean wit. [24 Feb 2006, p.64]
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Bejar is so wound up in his own idiosyncratic mythologies, so hopelessly himself that some fans have already said it sounds like a greatest hits record; appropriate that a meta-rocker's final frontier is his own reflection in the mirror.
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Destroyer's Rubies is an inadvertent Guide To Destroyer - every defining quirk, every 70's pop nod and ill-advised but forgivable falsetto is condensed and framed, only without becoming something fans of Bejar will have all heard before.
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80Bejar's most accessible album yet. [Apr 2006, p.111]
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80Fey and whimsical, these songs are challenges that reward. [Apr 2006, p.96]
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An amalgam of Streethawk: A Seduction's glam rock posturing, This Night's guitar-heavy psychedelia, and Your Blues' apocalyptic wordplay.
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Rubies is nothing if not ambitious. [Apr 2006, p.204]
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All self-examination aside, there's a lot of substance here. Vocally, he has rarely been more on point, and the instrumental ensemble is sound and uniquely Rubiesian.
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80While the sheer density of Bejar's writing can be overwhelming, Destroyer's Rubies is, on a musical level, the most 'accessible' disc he's released in years.
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Rubies is one of the most enjoyable listens from Bejar's solo catalog and comfortably stands with 2002's This Night as his best effort.
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Destroyer's Rubies is one of those rare albums whose literary value is so compelling as to make any imperfections simply blend in as an essential part of the storyline.
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It feels like an event: grand, sumptuous, sometimes seductive.
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80Bejars songs have, in the past, sometimes seemed like vehicles for his lyrics, yet with Destroyer's Rubies he seems to have made peace with the musical element of his work as well.
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Anyone on the fence after 2004's Your Blues need only hear Bejar bark, "I tried to enjoy myself at the society ball" on the luxurious "A Dangerous Woman up to a Point" to see his strength as a songwriter.
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One of [Bejar's] most accomplished (and self-studied) albums, but it's also one of his least vital.
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Adventuruous fare, somewhat mellower than previous efforts, but equally sporadic and striking. [#12, p.90]
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60Overall, listeners will struggle to classify "Rubies," as much for Bejar's blurring of bluesy folk, pop and lo-fi indie rock as his unconventional delivery.
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 57 out of 72
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Mixed: 5 out of 72
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Negative: 10 out of 72
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WesM.10
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AndyG9Incredible music, and lyrics that you can tune out for a bit, then tune in again and become engaged immediately.
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rt6