42nd Street Records

Music of the Moment: Dan Deacon – Bromst

So Dan Deacon’s long awaited followup to Spiderman of the Rings leaked on Monday, but I thought I would give it a few full listens before rushing into the blogosphere to comment. So, it is now Wednesday and the record has spun more than once. So, without further ado, here is my first reaction:

It’s REALLY fucking good. 

I know that this is not the most astute or intellectual sounding assessment of a piece of art, but Deacon’s music evokes juvenile tendencies from me.

In January, Deacon told the Baltimore City Paper that Bromst was more of an “album” than 2006’s Spiderman of the Rings, saying:

“Unlike Spiderman, which was essentially a one-man, purely electronic piece of music, Bromst was recorded entirely live and written to be performed by a 15 person band.”

But, make no mistake, while Deacon might have taken a more traditional recording approach in collaborating with other “live” musicians, it is most certainly a singular vision. Trademark Dan Deacon through and through, Bromst opens with a repetitive drone in “Build Voice”, before bright keyboards and circular synths loop around Deacon’s distant, chanting vocals. And then the crash comes, as drums pound quicker than what is humanly possible. This composition leaves no doubt that we are in the hands of the Wham City giant.

But the euphoria of the opener gives way to the much talked about “darker tone”. “Red F” begins with what sounds like a missed, stuck note — until the driving dance beat kicks in. Fuzzed out vocals reminiscent of the Wham City track on Spiderman of the Rings are near indecipherable as Deacon navigates the listener through what sounds like a rave in purgatory. 

The next three tracks contain different pieces of live percussion. “Padding Ghost” has an almost tribal rhythm to it (though it is quickly ovetaken by a familiar “spazz  dance” drum line) while “Snookered” starts out with a loop of triangles and bells much akin to “Big Milk”. This twinkle continues through the “Of the Mountain” opening moments but both “Snookered” and “Mountains” become epic bits of heavenly electronica.

“Surprise Stefani” is just that…a surprise. It is as close as Deacon has ever come to writing a mainstream bit of electro. Though it lacks true lyrics, its pitch shifting chants take a traditional high-low route, creating a familiar route that the rest of the band follows. “Wet Wings” is almost like a intermission before going into the home stretch of the album, its repeating spiritual sample creating a calming effect that recalls a more experimental Moby from the Play days (that is, if Moby took up snorting Pixie sticks instead of being Vegan). “Woof Woof” brings us a bit of Deacon’s loveable “squirrel vocals” while “Slow Horns/Run For Your Life” is at first a tearing industrial track that gives way to a beautiful, if maddening, piano line.

My only complaint is that “Baltihorse” sounds more like the end of the album than the closer (and, oddly enough, first single) “Get Older”. There is such a climatic pound of drums and synths in “Baltihorse” that render “Get Older” to appear almost like a “hidden track”. Don’t get me wrong, “Get Older” is an amazing cut, but it just seems out of place at the end of the album.

Like I said, this record kicks major ass. Though not a departure or even major deviation from his musical stylings, Bromst is an amazing piece of work from one of our most experimental and exciting artists. Be sure to pick this one up on March 24th when it is released by Carpark.