Notorious Lightning and Other Works

In 2004, Dan Bejar toured in support of Your Blues. Along for the ride was Victoria-based band Frog Eyes, led by Bejar’s friend Carey Mercer. Frog Eyes would play an opening set, and then act as Bejar’s band for the Destroyer set.

Frog Eyes' dynamic, organic, off-kilter treatment of songs from Your Blues, which was made up almost entirely of MIDI-programmed instruments, gave the material new vitality. Released in 2005, the Notorious Lightning and Other Works EP captured that chemistry, reworking 6 songs from Your Blues. For example, the version of “New Ways of Living” on Notorious Lightning and Other Works lurches like a cartoon boogeyman toward a crescendo that has Bejar caterwauling unlike anywhere else in his catalog.

At several points on the EP where Mercer chimes in, one is reminded of John Lennon and Harry Nilsson’s scream competitions on Pussy Cats.

Shortly after Notorious Lightning and Other Works, Mercer and Bejar recorded together again, along with Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade / Moonface / Sunset Rubdown), as Swan Lake.