Listen to “Tintoretto, It’s for You” by Destroyer

Following a series of slick, understated Destroyer albums, the first single from the band’s forthcoming album LABYRINTHITIS represents a change of pace. Named after the Italian Renaissance painter, “Tintoretto, It’s for You” is menacing and theatrical, bursting with distorted synths, cracking drums, and blaring trumpet. The sound itself might seem like an urgent shift toward art-punk collage, but listen closely and you will hear Dan Bejar paraphrase an apocalyptic Leonard Cohen song—“I confess I don’t feel much like singing,” he admits, gesturing toward “The Old Revolution”—and playfully inserting a placeholder Destroyerism into what should be a cathartic moment: “Your little one’s sick at the sight/Of insert-three-syllables-here at night.” He remains as sly and in control as ever; the darker things get, the more comfortable he sounds.