The rock and roll lifestyle is one best suited to extroverts. Endless self-promotion, unflagging confidence in your abilities and a willingness to make a constant spectacle out of yourself are all job requirements. Naturally, this lifestyle can prove troublesome for those with more introverted leanings. Dan Bejar, the enigmatic figure behind Destroyer as well as several New Pornographers and Swan Lake songs, has achieved considerable success in the world of rock ’n’ roll despite displaying a personality that’s not particularly suited to it. Unlike many of his peers, Bejar is hesitant playing the musician. He rarely tours. When he does, his stage persona is awkward and his banter reticent. He’s notorious for being an elusive interview and seems unconcerned at best and bewildered at worst, that people care about his music.

“I don’t think it’s growing,” Bejar says about his fan base. “And I could care less about that stuff, whether Destroyer was gorging itself on new fans or wasting away to nothing.”

Statements like this would sound disingenuous coming from most musicians, but from Bejar it rings true. Though Destroyer’s level of exposure is rising to newfound heights on the heels of 2006’s Destroyer’s Rubies and this year’s Trouble in Dreams, it’s not surprising that Bejar hasn’t noticed. After all, his nuanced, glam-meets-’90s-indie-meets-’70s-bar-band music has always sounded as if it was created entirely from expressive necessity with nary a thought given to whether anyone would actually want to listen to it.

Oddly, the element of Bejar’s music that most embodies this quality — his vague, literary, self-referential, indecipherable lyrics — are often cited by fans as what initially drew them to Destroyer. Indeed, in most discussions pertaining to Destroyer, the band’s music takes a noticeable back seat to trying to figure out just what Bejar might be saying. Recently, Bejar has even started writing a song’s lyrics first, then working on chords and melodies, an approach that is opposite to the way most musicians do things.

“[Writing that way] poses no challenges, other than the challenge the listener might face when faced with a melody that is based on nothing but the sound of me having a conversation with myself,” he says. Asked why he finds the approach more convenient, Bejar is typically contrarian, responding “I never said it works for me.”

There’s the rub — whether something works for Bejar isn’t important and certainly isn’t enough reason for him to switch his approach. That his songwriting works more often than not is merely a lucky coincidence for the man who makes his living playing music, but has difficulty calling himself a musician. While Bejar may not apologize for his idiosyncrasies, he will, however, be the first to criticize them. In fact, if there’s one aspect of his work that he’s talkative about, it’s his own shortcomings. Whether discussing his skills on guitar, his nasal voice or his songwriting, Bejar is always quick to throw in a self-deprecating jab. This gives the impression that he’s very critical of his own work, something Bejar takes issue with.

“I think people misunderstand me when I say those things, which is why I don’t think Destroyer interviews are very informative,” he says. “I don’t think pulling the tablecloth out from under a meal is being critical of a meal. I’m not critical of my own work; I think it’s top notch. I just don’t think it’s always very well-suited to what people are trying to make it do.

“And if you asked any guitar player, they would say I’m lame.” he adds. “But I’m not a guitar player, so I don’t really care.”