Dan Deacon appeals to pop music sensibilities in latest album 'Gliss Riffer'

Electronic composer Dan Deacon has never been one to take the easy route. Known for going on extravagant tours with 30 piece orchestras in tour buses made of garbage and creating massive electronic tracks with seemingly infinite layers of sound, Deacon has been a popular force in the indie electronic scene since his album "Spiderman of the Rings" (2007) which brought him more widespread recognition. Now, at 33 years old, Deacon must come to terms with the fact that the electronic music scene has changed immensely over the past eight years. With the rise in popularity of electronic music festivals and the ever-growing alternative R&B scene, Deacon must try harder than ever to carve out his own niche. On "Gliss Riffer" (Feb. 24), his first album in three years, he experiments with pop structures -- most likely in an effort to win over new fans -- while also sticking to the layered electronic atmospheres of his previous releases.

"Feel the Lightning," the first single and lead track, proves to be an example of this pop experimentation paying off. This song is one of the catchiest Deacon has ever released, and it serves as a great introduction to his signature sound. Thick synths pile on top of one another, creating a wall of sound that Deacon manipulates to great lengths. The chord changes are predictable, but when paired with the rhythmic pounding of drums, they give the song a hymnal effect. Much of the music on the album follows this formula, and many of the songs paddle along like war chants or mantras.

This effect, in part, comes from the vocal work, which like the synths, is heavily layered.Using a variety of filters to distort his voice, Deacon sings on more than half of the tracks, which helps add to the overall pop theme that prevails throughout the album. Even voices with higher, almost feminine pitches are his own, sped down and slowed up in the recording process to produce this effect. While on previous releases his singing often felt more like shouting, there are plenty of distinct lyrics and repeated melodies on "Gliss Riffer." Songs like "When I Was Done Dying" and "Learning to Relax" revolve around Deacon’s singing, which makes them quite accessible. The abundance of lyrics also gives Deacon an outlet from which to express his own views on a variety of issues, such as his personal struggles with stress and aging.

A major theme of the album is that less is more. Deacon mentioned in interviews with NPR and Baltimore Magazine that while making this album, he moved away from his process of working with multiple musicians and constructed the whole album himself as a way of relaxing and dealing with his self-diagnosed addiction to working too hard.Lyrics such as "I try not to worry, but I always worry" and song titles such as "Learning to Relax" emphasize Deacon’s willingness to open up about his personal troubles and his attempts to deal with these issues.

There is also a sense of wonder that prevails throughout the album, as if Deacon is constantly thinking about what the future has to offer. Lines such as, "I’m having visions, infinite visions / Of something new / You feel it changing, slowly but changing/ About to break through," on "Feel the Lightning" give an uplifting atmosphere to the song and start the album off on a prophetic note. Similarly warm and harmonizing melodies appear elsewhere on the album, making it a pleasurable listen throughout. Yet, if Deacon is predicting some sort of future for music and the world in general, this album will not be the one to bring about that future. Deacon fails to push his songs to new heights as he did on "Bromst" (2009) and ends up with a slew of songs such as "Mind on Fire" and "Sheathed Wings" that don’t bring much to the table aside from mindlessly repetitive drum patterns and overly simple chord changes. The big difference is that this music is more widely accessible than Deacon’s other releases, and in this sense, "Gliss Riffer" succeeds as an album.