Dan Deacon's newest album, 'Bromst,' allows for freedom of interpretation

    The word "Bromst," the name of the latest album by electronic musician Dan Deacon, doesn't appear in the Oxford English Dictionary. Nor does it appear in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary or on UrbanDictionary.com. There are just under 100 thousand Google hits for "Bromst," but no definitions of the word. It takes about an hour to get a rough idea of what "Bromst" means, and far longer to begin to comprehend it, but this is time well spent.
    Deacon trained in electronic and computer music composition at SUNY Purchase and is a founding member of the Wham City music collective based in Baltimore. He first came to the attention of the music world with the 2007's "Spiderman of the Rings."
    After gaining a dedicated following with "Spiderman" and his live shows, which are usually joyous, sweaty dance parties, Deacon went to Montana to work on something more mature. It's hard to listen to "Bromst" and, not having any point of reference, call it mature, but the word fits when compared to its predecessor.
    "Bromst" is, for the most part, fully realized, beautiful nonsense. Deacon's music combines instruments and distorted vocals with electronically-produced sounds to create something wholly unique and wonderful. The sine waves he experiments with and the bleeps, boops and distortion may upset some ears not fully prepared for the aural party, but those who can open their minds won't be disappointed.
    On its best tracks "Bromst" is reminiscent of some illegitimate child of LCD Soundsystem, trading in James Murphy's too-cool hipster-snark for Deacon's childlike wonder. All of the tracks are more polished than Deacon's previous material due to his collaboration with the talented producers from SnowGhost Studios in Montana.
    "Snookered," easily the best track on the album, is also the longest. Coming in at just over eight minutes, it is equivalent to "Spiderman's" "Wham City," that album's centerpiece (though "Wham City" was nearly five minutes longer). The song moves in waves from a series of chimes at the beginning which set the pace for the song. Next up comes a chattering of voices that fade into a buzzing synth section and slow percussion, which builds for two minutes until the singing finally kicks in. Most of the vocals on "Bromst" are highly distorted, but on "Snookered," the main vocal track is clear, though the backing parts are echoed, whispy and sped up, all played together for great effect. Halfway through, the song changes drastically as the clear vocals are replaced by a beat made from various vocal samples. The latter half slowly fades back into the harmony. By the end, all elements previously heard come together for a dizzying effect that few artists can attain.
    Other standout tracks include "Of The Mountains," a tribal-sounding, upbeat tune; "Woof Woof," which sounds like Alvin and the Chipmunks rapping backwards (which works way better than one might think); and "Build Voice," probably the most mature (musically, at least) track on the album.
    Not all of these daring tracks succeed, however: "West Wings" is nearly unlistenable. It consists of a single vocal sample of a woman soulfully wailing, looped over and over to create what, if it wasn't so grating, might be considered haunting. "West Wings" is completely out of place on "Bromst." One could chalk it up to Deacon just doing his thing, experimenting and pushing boundaries, but that does not excuse the song from standing out as a glaring smudge on an otherwise near-mint work.
    It is imperative to understand that "Bromst" is not for everyone, and it will be a long, long time before Dan Deacon will get Top 40 radio play. That said, it is easy to tell that Dan Deacon is a man who enjoys his craft. The love that he pours into his music transforms what could be half-baked ideas in the hands of lesser madmen into fully-formed eargasms. "Bromst" begs to be played loudly on speakers and shared with the world. It is impossible to listen to "Bromst" without smiling, and even listeners who believe whole-heartedly that they have no rhythm whatsoever will find themselves tapping their toes along with the frantic beats.
    Maybe there's a reason that there is no definition for "Bromst" on the Internet or in any book. Without sounding too lofty, if "Bromst" the album defines "Bromst" the word, it makes sense that it couldn't be defined in concrete terms. It means whatever one wants it to mean, but most assuredly, it is a good thing.