by Brittney Corridean
All photos by Frank Hamilton
The colorful and creative Dan Deacon has most recently completed his first solo album since 2007, Gliss Riffer and has been catching quite a buzz since its release in February this year.
Deacon recently took some time while in between work and the road to talk about what it was like creating the one-man band album and inspirations, ideas and just real life things that happened along the way. Obviously, there will be bonuses and downfalls when working alone in any kind of atmosphere but creating Gliss Riffer completely from scratch and only having himself to turn to for opinion, well, there are bound to be some contradictories happening there.
“The biggest challenge is the self-doubt phase,” Deacon says about having to second guess instincts. “You are the only ears in the room and all the choices are made based upon your mood and mindset alone. Keeping doubt out of the mix is the hard part of the process. After a certain point, composing and mixing are a lot like mazes, you know there is the best possible path, but it’s finding that path.”
If you listen to the first single from the album, “Feel the Lightening”, everything is Deacon-even down to all the vocals which can range from some high pitched tones to some low ranged, robotic, warped voices.
As far as music videos go, the aesthetic eccentricity, appealing graphics and design can easily be seen in all of them (that are actual, original videos). Take “When I was Done Dying” for example, Deacon actually paired up with Adult Swim for a mind blowing, animated short story and he gives cred to the nine animators who brought the song to life.
“The only input that was given to the animators was to try to follow the lyrics as close as possible. Other than that they were all following their own paths and self-directing; which, is why I think the video came out as beautiful as it did,” Deacon states. As far as videos go, it’s more of a collaborative experience.
“The processes for the videos change with each one. For feel, Andrew Jeffrey Wright sent over two treatments and my only input was “I love them both! Can we merge them?” and he said “yes!” But for others, like the “When I Was Done Dying” video I had a concept that I brought to Dave Hughes and he then reworked it to make it possible. He modified it to be a stronger concept and brought together the team of animators.”
Deacon has also been traveling quite a bit while touring for himself and other bands, such as Arcade Fire just last year.
“Their show was super theatrical and really inspiring. It was also so awesome to see a band that came out of the underground get so large and still really care about keeping it real while also reaching hundreds of thousands of people. I didn’t know shit like that still happened,” Deacon says about touring with the band.
He also has encountered some amazing places such as Beijing, Mexico City and Dublin and really enjoyed the time he spent with crew members on the bus while on the road
“I love the American west. It’s unlike anywhere else in the world I’ve been. It’s so vast and wholly psychedelic. Being on my weird converted bus is a lot like camping. We cook everyone our meals together as a crew and eat family style. It’s what I look forward to the most besides the show.”
Aside from producing electronic/indie music, Deacon has actually composed classical music as well, which is impressive considering how different those musical types can be. He really just works off his instincts to create and goes from there.
“I try not to “think” much when making work and to just work intuitively. At least at the start of the process, it’s fun to work in a stream of consciousness style when I’m working on my own music. When I’m working on a commission (like a film score or a piece for a particular ensemble like so percussion or something) the process is a little different because there is a defined home for the piece and it needs to live within that home.”
Deacon’s live shows are full of shenanigans that go on while he is performing. It kind of just happened over the years and has given him the reputation of putting on interactive, animated and involved shows.
“It evolved organically over time, but I think it grew from my need for the show to have a human, theatrical element which electronic music in the early 2000s didn’t have much of. I didn’t want to be just sitting behind a laptop or pushing buttons. Music is theater and requires physicality to the sound, which is why I added voice in the first place. Also, I think about the whole venue as “the stage” and every person in the room as a performer. So that really opens up a lot of options for nightly improvisations with the crowd.”
Deacon will be performing tonight, 4/10 at The First Unitarian Church; it’s a sold out show but we can always figure out a way around that…
