Dan Deacon - Bromst

There must be something in the air around Baltimore.

Yet again, the weirdo city produces another oddball to add to its tracklist of fascinating musical cranks: Frank Zappa, Ponytail, Noah Lennox (he of Panda Bear and Animal Collective notoriety), Philip Glass, et cetera... As well as possessing more than their fair share of eccentricity, the above names are/were also endowed with a great deal of creative talent. Dan Deacon, the latest name to be added to those ranks, is no exception.

‘Bromst’, his second album to receive a proper UK release, couldn’t have been made anywhere but Baltimore – it’s full of schizophrenic percussion, layered vocal harmonies and electronic psychedelia. These last two elements are, in fact, pleasantly reminiscent of city-mate Lennox’s work, but not in a plagiaristic fashion – Deacon blends these elements with an 8-bit backbone to create something entirely his.

And although this analogue ethos underpins the whole of ‘Bromst’, a range of ‘real’ instruments, particularly the mass percussive rollout of marimbas, glockenspiels, xylophones, bells and the like (as used to great effect at the end of ‘Surprise Stefani’), give the record an organic – almost Christmassy – warmth, whilst ensuring that the electronics never threaten to engulf what is, at heart, a very human album.

As for the oddball tag… Some of what’s here is pretty quirky/out there/off the wall/insert your own generic term here, but no more so than, say, Animal Collective. In fact, to gloriously contradict my above claims, to file Deacon purely under the category of oddball risks labelling him with a naïve simplicity that simply doesn’t do him justice. Any weirdness present on ‘Bromst’ is intricate and charming, rather than gimmicky, and Deacon’s proficiency as a musician – more apparent here than on previous material – ensures that the record is far more than just novelty paraphernalia. In particular, the frantic glitch pop of tracks like ‘Red F’ and ‘Paddling Ghost’ is pretty darn brilliant.

The album occasionally dips a little in its second half, with a few tracks that lack the focus and charm of the first, including a Deaconised Sigur Rós-esque distorted epic that doesn’t quite work. However, things pick up again on ‘Get Older’, the final track, ensuring that the album goes out on a demented and glorious high, just as it began.

‘Bromst’ may not be a record to everyone’s taste, but the best ones rarely are, and those prepared to give it the time it deserves will be duly rewarded.