Today, revered Canadian outfit Destroyer, fronted by illustrious and critically acclaimed songwriter Dan Bejar, share their third scintillating single, “June,” from their highly anticipated 2022 record LABYRINTHITIS, out March 25. It arrives along with a new David Galloway– and Dan Bejar–directed music video.

While Bejar initially envisioned LABYRINTHITIS as a straight dance record (“just like Donna Summer’s greatest hits”), the hurtling coda of “June” explodes that simplicity into a million shining pieces, with Bejar and longtime collaborator John Collins’ initial jam expanding until the edges of the universe run through their fingertips, the band members peeling off in cathartic helixes.

The single, as with many of Bejar’s refrains, dissects the absurd juxtapositions of modern life, its poetics privy to the heinously abstruse entanglement of the beauty and pain of the human condition and the relentless marching of time. He teamed up with co-director Galloway on the video which further explores this idea of monotony vs. exuberance by following a reclusive Bejar and his futuristic delivery driver.

A director’s statement from Galloway:

Is it spring where you are? I think June is technically summer, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make. The flowers are starting to come out now, and the birds sure as hell are. There it was; the future just flew by. What’s the quorum on something like that?

Carved from the subterranean burls of funk bass, warped synth-pop and nocturnal disco anomalies and written with collaborator John Collins from opposing states of isolation, Destroyer’s “June” joins previous singles “Tintoretto, It’s for You” and “Eat the Wine, Drink the Bread” as the sprawling touchstones of LABYRINTHITIS.

While the album’s songs may have been patched together like a mosaic of enigmatic ideas, the Destroyer band rolls the entire LABYRINTHITIS universe together—celestial waves unified despite the players’ physical time apart. Reorienting vertigo lingers long after the final note reverberates, its implacable aura and bewitching lyrics wriggling ever deeper into the mind with each resounding sigh of bewilderment.

Pre-order LABYRINTHITIS today on CD, LP, and jade & ivory Peak Vinyl in the Merge store and participating independent record shops. In support of the album, the Destroyer band heads out on tour this spring.

Destroyer on tour:
Apr 22 Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre
Apr 23 Seattle, WA – The Neptune Theatre
Apr 24 Boise, ID – The Olympic
Apr 26 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
Apr 27 Denver, CO – The Bluebird Theater
Apr 28 Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room
Apr 29 St. Louis, MO – Blueberry Hill Duck Room
Apr 30 Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge
May 02 Carrboro, NC – Cat’s Cradle
May 04 Asheville, NC – The Grey Eagle
May 05 Washington, DC – Black Cat
May 06 Philadelphia, PA – Underground Arts
May 07 Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Steel
May 08 Cambridge, MA – The Sinclair
May 09 Montreal, QC – Theatre Fairmount
May 10 Toronto, ON – Phoenix Concert Theatre
May 11 Detroit, MI – El Club
May 12 Chicago, IL – Thalia Hall
May 13 St. Paul, MN – Amsterdam Bar & Hall
May 14 Lawrence, KS – The Bottleneck
May 15 Oklahoma City, OK – Beer City Music Hall
May 16 Fort Worth, TX – Tulips
May 17 Austin, TX – The Mohawk
May 19 Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom
May 20 Los Angeles, CA – The Belasco
May 21 Berkeley, CA – The UC Theatre
May 22 Portland, OR – Revolution Hall