Dan Deacon, the four-eyed mad scientist behind 2007’s electronic noise-pop sensation, Spiderman of the Rings, might be going acoustic soon. “I kind of want to start writing with less computer and less electronics, and more writing for acoustic instruments,” he told h over the phone from his hometown of Baltimore. For a musician known for quirky sound collages and sample-heavy party songs, Dan’s admission is a bit surprising. After all, he began his career with the wildly experimental Casiotone and loop pedal exercises of Meetle Mice, and went on to receive critical acclaim for the driving dance anthems of Spiderman of the Rings. So why consider switching gears for more traditional instrumentation all of a sudden? “The line from Revenge of the Nerds, ‘Would you rather live in a society during its decline or during its decay?’ had a big impact on me as a kid, and I guess I think we’re living in it during its decline,” he explains. “American society has reached its peak and it’s totally on its way down, and the decadence of large PA systems and affordable electricity is gonna be more difficult, and I like the idea of a band of musicians. I think being able to make music by any means is important.”
Although Dan won’t be trading in his manic, sweaty loft ragers for quiet cafe performances anytime soon, his interest in acoustic instruments explains the presence of piano, glockenspiel, marimba, brass, and live drums on the new album, Bromst. From the opening mallet melody of “Padding Ghost” to the polyrhythmic drums on “Of The Mountains”,  there’s a lot of fresh noise to digest on the new album, and it’s clear that Dan’s been busy tinkering with his sound. As a member of the Baltimore Art collective Wham City and an organizer of events like the 30-band Baltimore Round Robin tour, he’s also got a knack for collaboration. In fact, he’s putting together a (roughly) 14-piece ensemble to play the instruments on Bromst and tour with him this spring. h reached him while he was at a supermarket picking up burgers and shrimp for a barbecue…

h: You’re barbecuing outside? Isn’t it kind of cold?
Dan:  Uh yeah, we’re doing it outside. It’s not like super cold, but I just got back from Australia where it was summer there, and I’ve gotten used to it. My roommate Garret just got back from Europe where it’s the exact opposite. I think we’re meeting somewhere in the middle.
h: How did your recent tour of Australia and New Zealand go?
Dan:  I think it went really well, it was a really refreshing place to tour. They were probably the least aggressive audiences I’ve ever played for…really dancy and wild, but at the same time, not shove-y. Seems like moshing never made it’s way across the ocean in the same capacity as it did over here.
h: So you’re about to tour with a 14-piece ensemble?
Dan:  The exact number hasn’t been whittled down yet, it changes from song to song depending on the instrumentation. Some pieces will be four to eight people and others will be like 18, so I guess the average is probably like 14 people.
h: Is it hard to practice with so many people? Is there always that one guy who’s late to practice every time?
Dan: Well, we do it in sectionals. The four synth players will meet up, and then the four drummers will meet up. The bulk of the ensemble is always eight performers, and then the rest of the people will meet and learn their parts individually. Then we’ll have group rehearsals two weeks before we leave, and then a rehearsal show, and then we’ll begin.”
h: The new album has a lot more acoustic instrumentation mixed into the electronics, and less dance songs. Do you see your self moving away from the party-oriented material or just expanding your sound?
Dan: I think ‘expanding’ is a good word to use. I think I focused pretty heavily on just that style of music for a while and it’s nice to kind of get away from it. I feel like the climate of the world is kind of changing, and I feel like writing music that’s just about partying isn’t really relevant. When I was writing it, in my life it wasn’t escapism, it was a celebration of the way my life was and the way my friends’ lives were… Now that I’ve seen a little bit more of the world and I’m a little bit older, and my friends’ lives and my life has changed quite a bit, it seems like writing just another party record isn’t a really a good idea, and it isn’t going to have the same impact on me as it did a few years ago.
h: Bromst is also a bit spacier and more challenging than Spiderman…
Dan:  One of the reasons I made Bromst a very long album and made the songs long and long-form was, I wanted the record to be listened to from start to finish, and have it be somewhat challenging because I think a lot of music has drifted back towards the single, and it’s been very much single focused, and I wanted to write an album. Spiderman of the Rings was like a collection of singles that were strung together into a cohesive album, but I wanted Bromst to be something that there wasn’t really a standout track; there wasn’t something that was a single. Everything gained its strength from the songs that surrounded it. I also want to get more into making scores and having my music be available for people to perform.
h: You’re going to publish the scores for your albums?
Dan:  Oh yeah, the scores for Bromst should be out around the same time that the album comes out. We’re making 5,000 printed copies and we’re sending them to about 100 record stores for free, and I’ll have another couple of thousand with me on tour, and I’ll be giving those out, and they’ll be free online.
h: The monologues that you do between songs are hilarious. Would you ever consider releasing an album of those?
Dan:  I thought about it a bunch and recorded some. But it just didn’t really translate as well. I wish what I had done was recorded those live and put out like a live monologue CD.
h: You began writing experimental electronic music when you were a student at SUNY Purchase. What were your early shows there like?
Dan:  It sort of varied from show to show… A lot of the shows were with other people or with a large ensemble, some were just me with a sinewave generator and loop pedal, just doing like layered feedback or laptop sets. I didn’t really start adding vocals until my last year of graduate studies. That’s when the set started to take shape and I started focusing on being a dance set and audience involvement kind of set.
h: So you think the vocals are what pushed the material in a poppier direction?
Dan:  I think the vocals are the main thing that got the show to translate live. Voice and drums are the main instrument that people can relate to… I think vocals are something that people really attach to within music, even if they don’t play an instrument it sort of becomes the focal point regardless of whether it’s supposed to be or not.
h: What do you think about frequent descriptions of you as an “absurdist composer”?
Dan:  I think of myself just as a composer, arranging sounds. I guess predominantly electronically at the moment. I would definitely describe myself as an absurdist in the past, but I feel like I’ve moved on from that phase. I think that there is a substance to the earth, and a reason for existence.