ComfortComes

Dan Deacon – Bromst

Dan Deacon is known for his innovative style of performing. There aren’t many artists that would allow themselves to be surrounded by a horde of adoring fans while they played; there’d be few who would even successfully manage to perform in such circumstances. Perhaps this skill is what makes Dan’s fans slightly more adoring than other people’s fans.

His new album, Bromst, is… noisy. The first track is called “Build Voice,” and with good reason. Before the vocals kicks in, it is the metronomic melody that does the building, gradually gathering volume before you realise that there’s a voice under there. The second track has a less pleasant intro; Red F prefers to subject us to the steady ‘rhythm’ of a drill for almost the entire course of the song, only wavering it periodically to assure us it wasn’t left running by accident. There are some chaotic keyboard antics and some shouted vocals that are – incredibly – barely audible beneath the racket. The cacophony dissipates in the last 30 seconds or so of the song, before launching into a soft summary of the entire track.

“Of The Mountains” picks up where “Snookered” leaves off – the two songs blend seamlessly with each other. There’s a gently-tinkling glockenspiel and there’s some rhythmic chanting and there’s noise – but it’s magically soothing, almost reassuring.

“Paddling Ghosts”, “Woof Woof” and “Baltihorse” all feature chipmunks as backup singers. This might be a subjective bias, but I am not a fan of the 45rpm vocals and think the songs sound so much better once Alvin & Co. clam up.

“Slow With Horns/Run For Your Life” has some slow, steady, but very lovely horns which are soon accompanied by the racy piano that constitutes the “Run For Your Life” part and ultimately takes over the entire song. “Wet Wings” is another notable track – the shortest song on the album it is made up of a single vocal track that is fantastically layered over itself resulting in marvelously haunting echoes.

Bromst features frantic drums and befriends computer effects. Dan Deacon comes across as the sort who enjoys playing with sounds rather than instruments. Fortunately, the sounds seem to bend to his fancy and, like clay, he molds them into these avant-garde musical sculptures.