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MUSIC: Checking in with Dan Deacon

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See this story at BrooklynDaily.com.

By Danielle Furfaro

Brooklyn Daily

Musician Dan Deacon is an experimental music guru who is revered as a voice of unbridled abandon and creativity. His live shows are full of childlike energy, as he allows the audience to crowd as close as possible around him and then engages them in strange dances and activities. For his latest album, “America,” he sent a refreshingly anti-political message, writing a series of pop songs and orchestrated pieces that evoke more universal associations.

Deacon, who will play Celebrate Brooklyn, spoke to the paper:

Danielle Furfaro: You have made a career of making some of the strangest, most frenetic music out there. What is your process of writing and recording songs?

Dan Deacon: I think its fair to say the process changes from piece to piece but I normally start on the computer and build the instrumental parts up around one particular sound or loop. Then it grows from there. Vocals tend to be the last element added, and lyrics the absolute last.

DF: What do you think will come next?

DD: I’m not sure what direction I’ll go in next. Part of me really wants to make an album of ragers and another part wants to dive into the ether with no direction. I’m not sure which will come out but I plan on recording this summer.

DF: What do you like about Brooklyn? I know that you used to live in New York.

DD: I like how many of my friends live in Brooklyn. That’s my favorite part. I never lived in Brooklyn though. When I lived in New York City, I lived in Washington Heights and only for a short while. I’m too cheap to live in New York.

DF: Tell me how you plan on using cell phones in your concert.

DD: I was writing a lot of chamber music for audiences and incorporating cell phones in a really crude and basic way. It got me thinking about how smart phones were intelligent light and sound sources that can be controlled wirelessly, which lead to developing the app with several friends. We will be using it for my piece, USA, at Celebrate Brooklyn show.

Dan Deacon at the Prospect Park band shell [Ninth Street and Prospect Park West in Park Slope, (718) 683–5600]. August 2, 7:30 pm, $3 suggested donation.

Reach reporter Danielle Furfaro at dfurfaro@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2511. Follow her at twitter.com/DanielleFurfaro.

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