So it does adopt a very early eighties MOR vibe, if you will, a time in which many established artists were vehemently turning their back on more contemporary recording techniques, or simply rejecting going full-on new wave.

Interestingly enough, many of the influences he borrows from are taken from reputable pop songwriters who were considering an identity change - there’s the stiff funk of Young Americans-era David Bowie, the smooth-as-silk guitar passages of Paul Simon via One-Trick Pony, and Van Morrison’s early eighties Warner Bros. It has taken a full seventeen years for Bejar to fully commit to an album that fully expounds upon many of the ideas he’s been tinkering with throughout the years, taking himself to a more uncomfortable position even if he almost assumes a faceless identity. Poison Season is even more sumptuously complete, sleek and highly refined, repurposing the champagne-coated synths of Kaputt with the aid of a full band to further accentuate his high-brow witticisms. Bejar’s thespian-like poise is irrefutably his, though it was the first time in which he was assuming a character outside of his usual garb. For an artist who’s always been acknowledged for his overly loquacious declamations, it was the music that was doing all the talking: the overall sonic arch of Kaputt was one that emphasized fusion and light funk rhythms, where the overall groove mattered more than any of the individual parts involved. Kaputt wasn’t a change in direction as much as it was an absolute willingness to allow any biases pertaining to rockism to vanish, a gutsy move that could’ve easily made him fall into obsolescence.īejar found that he grew out of touch, and yet becoming more self-consciously “sophisticated” is what won him more listeners than ever before.

It came as a surprise for many to witness him utilize the saxophone with such sincerity in 2012’s Kaputt, an album so rich and lushly artificial that it even brought back the term Muzak for the indie-minded crowd. Often close to teetering over the edge of manic cool into casual, sophisticated pop opulence, he’s now officially made it into his fifth living decade accompanied by a sound that rightly suits him. There’s some difficulty in encapsulating Dan Bejar’s continual growth as a songwriter, seeing as time hasn’t made him any less perplexing to understand.

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