Written and produced by front man Eric Earley, Destroyer Of The Void is the fifth offering from the Portland band and sees the coming together of 60’s folk, 70’s country, 80’s prog and contemporary indie. To illustrate this, the title track leaps from polite, mid-tempo country-folk to piano balladry through stomping indie rock and vocal harmonies within its six minutes. It may show the increased ambition on this album, but it’s hardly the Bohemian Rhapsody it hopes to be.
The truth is that Blitzen Trapper are actually best when keeping things simple. The Man Who Would Speak True proves this, with just acoustic guitar and howling harmonica accompanying this old-fashioned country yarn. “On a drunken night with a stolen gun/I shot my lover as she made to run,” Earley sings, and it’s clear this man is a fine storyteller. “The judge sent me away/And they buried my Grace, yeah, the very next day.”
Heaven and Earth is similarly simple with piano and strings allowing the song to breathe and The Tree - a lovely folk duet with Alela Diane - further illustrates this is a band that doesn’t need to throw the kitchen sink at songs.
It seems a waste then - considering how much heart this record has - that the six-piece litters it with unmemorable and fairly bland outings like Love and Hate. Alluding to arena rock, there is nothing specifically wrong with it, but it demonstrates the unnecessarily overblown nature of much of Destroyer Of The Void. In this case, less would most certainly have been more.
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