Does Dan Bejar ever sleep? Between solo project Destroyer and his work as part of The New Pornographers and the Spencer Krug-aided supergroup Swan Lake, one would think Bejar barely has time to inhale much less indulge in some shut-eye. The prolific singer-songwriter (or superhuman, if you will) has struck again, quietly releasing a surprise new album under his other moniker, Hello Blue Roses, a collaboration with girlfriend Sydney Hermant.
Entitled WZO, it’s the follow-up to the Canadian duo’s 2008 debut LP The Portrait Is Finished and I Have Failed to Capture Your Beauty. According to its Bandcamp page, most of the album was written by Hermant and, in addition to Bejar, features instrumentation from fellow Swan Lake member and Frog Eyes mastermind Carey Mercer. The 10-track effort includes blissful meditations (“Amulet”, “Wild Reed”), rich avant-pop (“Crashing”, “Brutalist Brick”), folkier textures (“Errant Sophia”), and a cover of David Sylvian’s “Ghosts”.
Stream WZO in full below.
WZO Tracklist:
01. Amulet
02. Telepathy
03. Errant Sophia
04. Brutalist Brick
05. Wild Reed (A Crone’s Advice To Her Daughter, Wild Reed)
06. Crashing
07. Wading Pools
08. Ghosts
09. Alizarin Cream
10. Speak To Me
