Daniel Deacon (born August 28, 1981) is an American composer and electronic musician based in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

. Deacon is renowned for his live shows, where large-scale audience participation and interaction is often a major element of the performance. Since 2003, he has released five solo albums, including 2015's ''

Gliss Riffer ''Gliss Riffer'' is the fourth studio album by American electronic musician Dan Deacon. It was released on February 24, 2015, on Domino Records. Background The album's title is combination of the common music term "Gliss", short for glissando, ...

'', released by Domino Records. His work as a film composer includes scoring the 2021 documentaries ''

All Light, Everywhere ''All Light, Everywhere'' is a 2021 American documentary film written and directed by Theo Anthony. It follows the biases on how humans see things, focusing primarily on the use of police body cameras. The film had its world premiere at the Sunda ...

'' and ''

Ascension Ascension or ascending may refer to: Religion * "Ascension", the belief in some religions that some individuals have ascended into Heaven without dying first. The Catholic concept of the Assumption of Mary leaves open the question of her deat ...

'', both released as soundtrack albums by

Milan Records Milan Records is a record label located in Los Angeles, California specializing in film scores and soundtrack albums. In addition, Milan has an electronic catalog which features down-tempo, chillout, and eclectic electronic releases. In July 2 ...

, as well as

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola ( ; born April 7, 1939) is an American filmmaker. He is considered one of the leading figures of the New Hollywood and one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. List of awards and nominations received by Francis Ford Coppo ...

's ''

Twixt TwixT is a two-player Abstract strategy game, strategy board game, an early entrant in the 1960s 3M bookshelf game series. It became one of the most popular and enduring games in the series. It is a connection game where players alternate tu ...

'' (with

Osvaldo Golijov Osvaldo Noé Golijov (; born December 5, 1960) is an Argentine composer of classical music and music professor, known for his vocal and orchestral work. Biography Osvaldo Golijov was born in and raised in La Plata, Argentina, to a Jewish family ...

). His fifth solo studio album, titled '' Mystic Familiar'', was released January 31, 2020 on Domino.

Life and education

Daniel Deacon was born and raised in

West Babylon, New York West Babylon is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Babylon in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population was 43,213 at the 2010 census. Geography West Babylon is located at (40.713399, -73.357106). West Babylon is b ...

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

. He graduated from Babylon High School in 1999 where he was a member of the local ska band Channel 59 alongside Tim Daniels of

The Complete Guide to Everything ''The Complete Guide to Everything'', sometimes abbreviated to ''TCGTE'', is a weekly podcast hosted by Tom Reynolds and Tim Daniels of Brooklyn, New York. It is typically 60–90 minutes long and released weekly on Sundays. Most episodes cover ...

. He later attended the

Conservatory of Music A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

State University of New York at Purchase The State University of New York at Purchase, commonly referred to as Purchase College or SUNY Purchase, is a public liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. Established in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, SUNY Purchase is one of 13 compr ...

Purchase Purchasing is the procurement process a business or organization uses to acquire goods or services to accomplish its goals. Although there are several organizations that attempt to set standards in the purchasing process, processes can vary g ...

, New York where, in addition to performing his solo material, he played in many bands, including

tuba The tuba (; ) is the largest and lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece (brass), mouthpiece. It first appeared in th ...

for

Langhorne Slim Langhorne Slim is an American singer-songwriter (born Sean Scolnick on August 20, 1980 in Langhorne, Pennsylvania). He attended high school at Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania, and graduated from the Conservatory of Music at Purchase ...

and guitar in the improvisational

grindcore Grindcore is an extreme metal, extreme fusion genre of heavy metal music, heavy metal and hardcore punk that originated in the mid-1980s, drawing inspiration from abrasive-sounding musical styles, such as thrashcore, crust punk, hardcore punk, e ...

band Rated R, and had a small mixed chamber ensemble. He completed his graduate studies in electro-acoustic and

computer music Computer music is the application of computing technology in music composition, to help human composers create new music or to have computers independently create music, such as with algorithmic composition programs. It includes the theory and ...

composition. He studied under composer and conductor

Joel Thome Joel Thome (born in Detroit, Michigan) is the conductor and artistic director of Orchestra of Our Time. A Grammy Award recipient, Thome has been acclaimed internationally as an accomplished conductor and composer of classical and contemporary o ...

and Dary John Mizelle. In 2004 he moved to

and moved into the

Copycat Building The Copycat Building is a former manufacturing warehouse at 1501 Guilford Ave, Baltimore, Maryland, today used as an artists' studio and living space. Built in 1897, it is home to the city's creative class and a landmark of the Station North A ...

and, along with friends from SUNY Purchase, formed

Wham City Wham City is an art and performance collective based in Baltimore, Maryland. Members of Wham City include musicians Dan Deacon and Ed Schrader, visual artists Jimmy Joe Roche, Peter Ryan O'Connell, Mason Ross, Adam Endres, Dina Kelberman, April C ...

, an arts and music collective.

Career

Early student work

His first two releases as a solo artist, ''Meetle Mice'' and ''Silly Hat vs Egale Hat'' were released on

CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital media, digital optical disc data storage device, storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can only be Write once read many, written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) ...

on Standard Oil Records in 2003 while he was a student at SUNY Purchase. The albums are collections of both computer music and live recordings of ensemble pieces, and are markedly different from the electronic-pop body of work that began with his first popular record, 2007's '' Spiderman of the Rings'', in that most of the pieces are instrumentals and sound collages, and they contain almost no tracks where Deacon sings or uses vocal manipulation. He followed those two albums with a set of records made up of

sine wave A sine wave, sinusoidal wave, or sinusoid (symbol: ∿) is a periodic function, periodic wave whose waveform (shape) is the trigonometric function, trigonometric sine, sine function. In mechanics, as a linear motion over time, this is ''simple ...

compositions, ''Green Cobra Is Awesome Vs The Sun'' and ''Goose on the Loose''. His next two releases were the EPs ''Twacky Cats'' on Comfort Stand Recordings and ''Acorn Master'' on Psych-o-path Records.

Studio albums

'' Spiderman of the Rings'' was Deacon's first commercially distributed full-length album, released by

Carpark Records Carpark Records is an independent record label based in Washington, D.C. History Carpark Records was established by Todd Hyman in 1999 in New York City. In 2005, the label relocated to Washington, D.C. Carpark has subsidiary labels. Acute Re ...

in May 2007. The album was well received and was included in the Best New Music section of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

''. The album was ranked as number 24 on the website's "Top 50 Albums of 2007". ''Spiderman of the Rings'' marked the beginning of Deacon's body of recorded work as an electronic-pop musician; Deacon has stated the success of this record "completely changed my life in every possible way." The collaborative video-art piece ''Ultimate Reality'' was released as a DVD in November 2007 by

and marked a return to composing music for others to perform. The pieces for percussion and electronics were performed by Jeremy Hyman of

Ponytail A ponytail is a hairstyle in which some, most, or all of the hair on the head is pulled away from the face, gathered and secured at the back of the head with a hair tie, clip, or other similar accessory and allowed to hang freely from that po ...

and Kevin Omeara of Videohippos. The sonic pieces were set to collaged and heavily altered video created by Deacon's long time friend and collaborator Jimmy Joe Roche. Deacon's next album, entitled '' Bromst'', was released on March 24, 2009. It was produced by Chester Gwazda at Snow Ghost Studios in Whitefish, Montana and features live instruments including player piano and a variety of percussion instruments. The album was well received; ''Pitchfork'' gave it an 8.5/10 and placed it into the "best new music" section. The album placed 46th among ''Pitchfork'' "Top 50 Albums of 2009". His album ''

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

'' was released on August 28, 2012, on Domino Records in the US. Deacon has described the album as representing his conflicted feelings toward the country and world he calls home: "The inspiration for the music was my love of cross-country travel, seeing the landscapes of the United States, going from east to west and back again over the course of seasons. "The lyrics are inspired by my frustration, fear and anger towards the country and world I live in and am a part of. As I came closer to finishing the album these themes began to show themselves more frequently and greater clarity. There seemed no better world to encapsulate both inspirations than the simple beauty found in the word America." ''

'' was released on Domino Records on February 24, 2015. Deacon describes the album title as "something that auto-correct wants to make sure that no one can actually type." The album was produced by Deacon alone, who notes that he created the album "trying to confront my own anxieties or insecurities and the stresses in my life." ''Gliss Riffer'' yielded the singles "Feel the Lightning" and "Learning to Relax", as well as a viral video animated in the

exquisite corpse Exquisite corpse (from the original French term ', ) is a method by which a collection of words or images is collectively assembled. Each collaborator adds to a composition in sequence, either by following a rule (e.g., "The ''adjective'' ''noun' ...

style for "When I Was Done Dying", produced by

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...

and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

and featuring the work of nine different animators. ''Gliss Riffer'' received four-star reviews from both ''The Guardian'' and ''AllMusic''. In his A− review of the album for ''

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...

'', Derek Staples noted that "the universal motifs of his discography are now refracted through a more personal lens", and praised the record's "new lyrical depth". In 2017, Deacon released a 10th-anniversary edition of '' Spiderman of the Rings'' that also included the soundtrack to 2007's ''Ultimate Reality''. Deacon produced and co-wrote the album ''

Riddles A riddle is a :wikt:statement, statement, question, or phrase having a double or veiled meaning, put forth as a puzzle to be solved. Riddles are of two types: ''enigmas'', which are problems generally expressed in metaphorical or Allegory, alleg ...

'' by Ed Schrader's Music Beat, released March 2, 2018 on

. Writing for NPR's ''

All Songs Considered ''All Songs Considered'' is a weekly online podcast and radio program hosted by Robin Hilton. It was created in January 2000 by NPR's ''All Things Considered'' then-director Bob Boilen and produced by Robin Hilton beginning in 2001. At first, ...

'',

Bob Boilen Bob B Boilen (born April 10, 1953, in Brooklyn, New York City) is an American musician and media personality. He was the host and creator of NPR's online music show ''All Songs Considered'' and the co-creator of NPR's Tiny Desk Concerts, a series ...

described ''Riddles'' as "a fascinating piece of work that is both ugly and beautiful, often at the same time", likening its sound to late-1970s records by

Suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

and

Pere Ubu Pere Ubu is an American rock group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. The band had a variety of long-term and recurring band members, with singer David Thomas being the only member staying throughout the band's lifetime. They released their ...

. Nina Corcoran noted in ''Pitchfork'' that "You can hear Deacon's style, especially that of 2012's ''America'', all over this album: the gleeful piano fluttering in 'Riddles,' the manic percussion buried in fuzz on 'Dizzy Devil,' the thick wall of synth on 'Kid Radium. Deacon's fifth studio album, '' Mystic Familiar'', was released on January 31, 2020. A first video from the album, for the song "Sat By a Tree" starring

Aparna Nancherla Aparna Nancherla (born ) is an American stand-up comedian and actress. She has had recurring roles on television series including ''BoJack Horseman'' and ''Corporate'' and has written for ''Late Night with Seth Meyers'' and '' Totally Biased w ...

, was released October 29, 2019. The second single from ''Mystic Familiar'', "Become a Mountain", was released on January 13, 2020, with a video by animation studio Rapapawn. In his 4-star review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Paul Simpson characterized ''Mystic Familiar'' as Deacon's return to "majestically arranged synth pop", characterizing its arrangements as "driving and full of excitement" and finding the album's lyrical themes of nature and inner peace "encouraging and empowering without relying on self-help clichés." For '' Under the Radar'', Scott Dransfield noted that ''Mystic Familiar'' is "far and away his most personal work yet", and concluded that "the best thing about ''Mystic Familiar'' is how the beautiful composition of the music reinforces the power of the lyrics' message." Deacon's remix of the

Future Islands Future Islands is an American synth-pop band based in Baltimore, Maryland, comprising Gerrit Welmers (keyboards and programming), William Cashion (bass, acoustic and electric guitars), Samuel T. Herring (lyrics and vocals), and Michael Lowry (pe ...

single "For Sure" premiered on January 19, 2021.

Contemporary classical work

In 2011, Deacon began to work more outside of the indie and pop music scenes and began working in the contemporary classical scene and film scoring. On January 20, 2011, Deacon and percussion quartet

So Percussion Sō Percussion is a Grammy winning American percussion quartet formed in 1999 and based in New York City. Composed of Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, Jason Treuting, and Eric Cha-Beach, the group is well known for recording and touring internationa ...

premiered a new piece composed by Deacon titled "Ghostbuster Cook: Origin of the Riddler" at the Merkin Concert Hall in New York as part of the Ecstatic Music Festival. ''

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

'' magazine listed the performance as one of the top 10 classical music performances of 2011. "Ghostbuster Cook" was also performed at

The Barbican Barbican is a type of fortified building. Barbican may also refer to: * Barbican (drink), a brand of malt beverage in Saudi Arabia and the UAE * Barbican Estate, a residential estate in London ** Barbican Centre, an arts centre in London ** Barb ...

for the

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...

Reverberations Festival, May 7, 2011. On February 3–4 the

Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony The Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Waterloo Region or Region of Waterloo) is a metropolitan area of Southern Ontario, Canada. It contains the cities of Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo (KWC or Tri-Cities), and the townships of North Dumfrie ...

conducted by

Edwin Outwater Edwin Maurice Outwater (born 12 April 1971) is an American conductor. Biography Outwater is a graduate of Harvard University, graduating ''cum laude'' in 1993 with a degree in English literature. While at Harvard, he was music director of the Bac ...

premiered Deacon's first orchestral works, "Fiddlenist Rim" and "Song of the Winter Solstice for orchestra and electronics". On January 21, 2011 it was announced that Deacon would score the film ''

'' by

. On August 1, 2011 "Purse Hurdler", a composition for a 27-person percussion ensemble, was premiered by the So Percussion Summer Institute at

Le Poisson Rouge (Le) Poisson Rouge (often referred to as LPR) is a music venue and multimedia art cabaret in New York City founded in 2008 by Justin Kantor and David Handler on the former site of the Village Gate at 158 Bleecker Street. The performance space was ...

in New York City. On March 2, 2012, Deacon performed with So Percussion at the

Royal Conservatory of Music The Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM; ), branded as The Royal Conservatory, is a non-profit music education institution and performance venue headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded in 1886 by Edward Fisher (musician), Edwar ...

in Toronto Canada. His compositions "Take A Deep Breath" and "Bottles" from "Ghostbuster Cook: Origin of the Riddler" were performed. On March 20, 2012, Deacon premiered a new composition for a chamber orchestra titled "An Opal Toad with Obsidian Eyes". The piece was premiered at the 2012 Ecstatic Music Festival and was performed by the

Calder Quartet The Calder Quartet (CQ) is a string quartet based in Los Angeles, California. Founded in 1998 at the University of Southern California, the group takes its name from American sculptor Alexander Calder. The ensemble is currently composed of its ...

, NOW Ensemble and Deacon on electronics controlling a

Disklavier Disklavier is a brand of reproducing pianos manufactured by Yamaha Corporation. The first Disklavier was introduced in the United States in 1987. The typical Disklavier is a real acoustic piano outfitted with electronic sensors for recording and ...

player piano A player piano is a self-playing piano with a pneumatic or electromechanical mechanism that operates the piano action using perforated paper or metallic rolls. Modern versions use MIDI. The player piano gained popularity as mass-produced home ...

. The piece was met with positive reviews. Deacon made his

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

debut on March 26, 2012, as part of the Carnegie Hall's American Mavericks series with So Percussion and

Matmos Matmos is an experimental electronic music duo formed in San Francisco and based in Baltimore. M. C. (Martin) Schmidt and Drew Daniel are the core members, but they frequently include other artists on their records and in their performances no ...

. The concert was a tribute to composer

John Cage John Milton Cage Jr. (September 5, 1912 – August 12, 1992) was an American composer and music theorist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and Extended technique, non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one ...

to celebrate his 100th birthday. The program contained compositions by Cage and others influenced by the composer, including two works by Deacon, "Take A Deep Breath" and "Bottles" from "Ghostbuster Cook: Origin of the Riddler". This concert was also met with positive reviews. In July 2013, Deacon performed with the

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classical musi ...

as part of their "Kronos at 40" series of concerts at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

. The quartet and Deacon performed the world premiere of his composition "Four Phases of Conflict" on the evening of July 28, 2013.

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

resident choreographer

Justin Peck Justin Peck (born September 8, 1987) is an American choreographer, director, and dancer associated with New York City Ballet, of which he was appointed Resident Choreographer in July 2014, being the second person in the history of the instituti ...

and Deacon collaborated on "The Times Are Racing", a ballet piece set to Deacon's four-part "USA I-IV" suite from his album ''

''. "The Times Are Racing" had its premiere performance on January 26, 2017. Deacon collaborated with the

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (BSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Baltimore SO has its principal residence at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, where it performs more than 130 concerts a year. In 2005, ...

in the

Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall The Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, often referred to simply as the Meyerhoff, is a music venue that opened September 16, 1982, at 1212 Cathedral Street in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The main auditori ...

for an evening of performance and curation on January 17, 2019. The evening consisted of three sets: the orchestra presenting a selection of classic works co-curated by Deacon, including pieces by

Erik Satie Eric Alfred Leslie Satie (born 17 May 18661 July 1925), better known as Erik Satie, was a French composer and pianist. The son of a French father and a British mother, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoire but was an undi ...

and

Du Yun Du Yun (traditional Chinese: 杜韻, simplified Chinese: 杜韵) is a Chinese-born American composer, performer, musician and performance artist. She won the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her opera ''Angel's Bone'', with libretto by Royce ...

; a solo set by Deacon; and a collaborative set with Deacon and members of the orchestra playing expanded arrangements of Deacon's music. This concert was named Best Concert of the year in ''

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

'' magazine's annual Best of Baltimore issue.

Live shows

Deacon's reputation was birthed by his live shows. When playing solo he usually performs on floor level within the audience, his musical devices being set up on a low table, and surrounded by the crowd. In stark contrast to Deacon's electronic performances, the Bromst tour was with a 14-person ensemble of members of various Baltimore bands including

, and Chester Gwazda. He was accompanied by various acts including Nuclear Power Pants. This tour is also notable for the musicians' use of a

vegetable oil Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of edible plants. Like animal fats, vegetable fats are ''mixtures'' of triglycerides. Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of seed ...

powered bus. In the summer of 2009, Dan Deacon went on tour with two other notable acts,

Deerhunter Deerhunter is an American indie rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 2001. The band currently consists of Bradford Cox (vocals, guitar, keyboards), Moses Archuleta (drums, electronics, sound treatments), Lockett Pundt (guitar, vocals, ...

, and

No Age No Age is an American noise rock duo consisting of guitarist Randy Randall and drummer/vocalist Dean Allen Spunt. The band is based in Los Angeles, California, and was signed to Sub Pop records from 2008 to 2013. No Age's fourth studio album, '' ...

, on the "No Deachunter" tour. In the fall of 2009, Dan Deacon was forced to cancel the small remainder of his North American tour, which included shows at

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (; RPI) is a private university, private research university in Troy, New York, United States. It is the oldest technological university in the English-speaking world and the Western Hemisphere. It was establishe ...

Troy, New York Troy is a city in and the county seat of Rensselaer County, New York, United States. It is located on the western edge of the county, on the eastern bank of the Hudson River just northeast of the capital city of Albany, New York, Albany. At the ...

and

Connecticut College Connecticut College (Conn) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. Originally chartered as Thames College, it was founded in 1911 as the state's only women's colle ...

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the outlet of the Thames River (Connecticut), Thames River in New London County, Connecticut, which empties into Long Island Sound. The cit ...

due to health complications involving a battle with acute

sciatica Sciatica is pain going down the leg from the lower back. This pain may go down the back, outside, or front of the leg. Onset is often sudden following activities such as heavy lifting, though gradual onset may also occur. The pain is often desc ...

, all of which were rescheduled in winter of 2010. For his ''America'' tour, Deacon created a smartphone app that synchronizes with the live show. It is usually used during the song "True Thrush".

Digital video

Deacon recorded the track " Drinking Out of Cups". In 2006, Liam Lynch created a video to accompany the piece. The compilation has been viewed more than 20 million times on

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. As the video spread, rumors of what the video was and how it was made quickly began forming. One popular rumor is that it is a recording of someone on

LSD Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD (from German ; often referred to as acid or lucy), is a semisynthetic, hallucinogenic compound derived from ergot, known for its powerful psychological effects and serotonergic activity. I ...

locked in a closet. Deacon has stated numerous times that this is not true. He collaborated with Wham City Comedy, on '' Live Forever as You Are Now with Alan Resnick'', an infomercial parody, created for

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

and "Showbeast" the web series created and directed by Ben O'Brien.

Film composer and curator

In September 2010, Deacon collaborated with video artist Jimmy Joe Roche at the Incubate festival in

Tilburg Tilburg () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern Provinces of the Netherlands, province of North Brabant. With a population of 22 ...

, The Netherlands. While in residency there, Deacon and Roche worked on a new piece of video art. Material was shot at 't Schop, a farm in

Hilvarenbeek Hilvarenbeek () is a municipality and a town in the south of the Netherlands, along the border with Belgium. The biggest tourist attraction is called Beekse Bergen, consisting of a safari park, amusement park/playground, holiday bungalow park, an ...

, and in the area surrounding

. During the festival, the movie was shown at the farm before Deacon's performance. Together with Jimmy Joe Roche and film critic Eric Allen Hatch, Dan Deacon curated and hosted the Gunky's Basement Film Series, a

Maryland Film Festival The Maryland Film Festival is an annual five-day international film festival taking place each March in Baltimore, Maryland. The festival was launched in 1999, and presents international film and video work of all lengths and genres. The festiv ...

series of films that are favorites of these friends and collaborators, including ''

RoboCop ''RoboCop'' is a 1987 American Science fiction film, science fiction action film directed by Paul Verhoeven and written by Edward Neumeier and Michael Miner. The film stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen (actress), Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Dani ...

'', '' The Shining'', and ''

Something Wild Something Wild may refer to: Film and TV * ''Something Wild'' (1961 film), a drama starring Carroll Baker and Ralph Meeker * ''Something Wild'' (1986 film), a comedy-thriller starring Jeff Daniels, Melanie Griffith, and Ray Liotta * "Something ...

''. Deacon's score for

Theo Anthony Theo Anthony is an American film director, editor, and cinematographer from Baltimore, Maryland known for his documentary films, including 2016's '' Rat Film''. Anthony's work draws inspiration from the experimental film essays of directors such ...

's 2017 documentary '' Rat Film'' was issued on October 13, 2017 as the inaugural release on the new Domino Soundtracks imprint. During the recording of the score, Deacon experimented with the rodent subjects, placing rats onto a custom fiberglass table with sensors on each corner. "I thought it would be interesting to set up a group of theremins to be controlled by rats moving around an enclosure (the volumes and pitches would always be fluctuating based on where/how the rats moved)", he explained in a statement. "Using the data and patterns collected from the rat Theremin performance, as well as impulse data from recordings of rat brain activity, I began to compose the bulk of the score." Deacon appears as himself in the 2014 film ''

Song One ''Song One'' is a 2014 American romantic drama film written and directed by Kate Barker-Froyland in her directorial debut. The film stars Anne Hathaway, Johnny Flynn, Ben Rosenfield, and Mary Steenburgen. In the film, Franny Ellis returns hom ...

''. In November 2018, Deacon released ''Time Trial'', his original soundtrack score to Finlay Pretsell's cycling documentary. Deacon's scores for both ''Rat Film'' and ''Time Trial'' were nominated for Best Original Score in the annual

Cinema Eye Honors The Cinema Eye Honors are awards recognizing excellence in nonfiction or documentary filmmaking and include awards for the disciplines of directing, producing, cinematography and editing. The awards are presented each January in New York and have b ...

. Other films scored by Deacon include the feature documentaries ''Well Groomed'' and ''And We Go Green'', and the

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

30 for 30 ''30 for 30'' is the title for a series of documentary films airing on ESPN, its sister networks, and online highlighting interesting people and events in sports history. This includes four "volumes" of 30 episodes each, a 13-episode series und ...

short ''Subject to Review''. Deacon also contributed original music to the score of

's 2011 horror film ''

'', starring

Val Kilmer Val Edward Kilmer (December 31, 1959 – April 1, 2025) was an American actor. Initially a stage actor, he later found fame as a Leading actor, leading man in films in a wide variety of genres, including Comedy film, comedies, dramas, action fi ...

. Deacon scored three projects that premiered at the 2021

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

: Albert Birney and

Kentucker Audley Andrew Michael Nenninger (born November 13, 1981), known professionally as Kentucker Audley, is an American filmmaker and actor. He appeared on the 2007 ''Filmmaker Magazine'' list of 25 New Faces of Independent Film. He founded the independent ...

's narrative feature '' Strawberry Mansion'',

's documentary feature ''

'', and the documentary series ''Philly D.A.'' In 2021, Deacon also scored

Jessica Kingdon Jessica Kingdon is a Chinese Americans, Chinese American director and producer. She was nominated for the 2022 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for directing the documentary Ascension (film), ''Ascension''. Career Kingdon received her ...

's feature documentary ''

'', which premiered at the 2021

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

, winning both Best Documentary Feature and the Albert Maysles Award for Best New Documentary Director. Deacon's scores for ''

'' and ''

'' were both nominated for Outstanding Original Score at the 2022

, with ''

'' taking home the prize in that category. With his recent work on Hustle, Venom: The Last Dance and

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, Deacon has shifted focus from scoring

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

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to feature-length narrative films for wider audiences. As of 2025, Venom: The Last Dance is the highest grossing film he has scored.

Discography

Solo studio records

* '' Spiderman of the Rings'' (Wildfire Wildfire / Carpark Records, 2007) * '' Bromst'' (Carpark Records, 2009) * ''

'' (Domino, 2012) * ''

'' (Domino, 2015) * '' Mystic Familiar'' (Domino, 2020)

Extended plays & singles

* ''Green Cobra Is Awesome vs. the Sun'' (single, 2003) * ''Porky Pig'' (Standard Oil Records New Music Series, 2004) * ''Twacky Cats'' (Comfort Stand Records, 2004) * ''Acorn Master'' (Psych-o-Path Records, 2006) * ''The Crystal Cat'' (7" single, Carpark Records, 2007) * ''Dan Deacon/Adventure Split'' (12" single, Carpark Records, 2009) * ''Woof Woof'' (single, 2009)

As producer

* Ed Schrader's Music Beat, ''

'' (Carpark Records, 2018)

Other releases

* '' Meetle Mice'' (2003) * ''Silly Hat vs. Egale Hat'' (2003) * ''Goose on the Loose'' (2003) * ''Live Recordings 2003'' (2004) * ''Ultimate Reality'' (soundtrack) (Carpark Records, 2008) * ''

'' (soundtrack) (with

, 2011) * ''I Said No Doctors!'' ( Dymaxion Groove, 2017) * '' Rat Film (Original Soundtrack)'' (Domino Soundtracks, 2017) * ''Time Trial (Original Soundtrack)'' (Domino Soundtracks, 2018) * ''Well Groomed (Original Soundtrack)'' (Domino Soundtracks, 2020) * ''

(Original Soundtrack)'' (Milan Records, 2021) * ''

(Original Soundtrack)'' (Milan Records, 2021) * '' Strawberry Mansion (Original Soundtrack)'' (Milan Records, 2022) * '' Hustle (Soundtrack from the Netflix Film)'' (Netflix Music, 2022)

Collaborations

Film scores

Television scores

Charts

*August 1, 2006: ''Acorn Master'' hits #162 on the

CMJ CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

Radio 200 charts. *March 24, 2009: ''Bromst'' hits #199 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' Top 200 charts. *September 15, 2012: ''America'' hits #147 on the ''Billboard'' Top 200 charts, and #5 on Top Dance/Electronic Albums charts *March 14, 2015: ''Gliss Riffer'' hits #2 on the ''Billboard'' Top Dance/Electronic Albums charts

Awards

* ''Silly Hat vs. Egale Hat'' #18 in Top 30 most played albums on

WFMU WFMU (91.1 MHz) is a non-commercial educational station, non-commercial, listener-supported, independent radio, independent community radio station city of license, licensed to East Orange, New Jersey, with studios in Jersey City. It is owned by ...

in November 2003 * ''Meetle Mice'' Third Best Album of 2003 on Top Ten Albums by OCDJ * Best Solo Performer 2005 ''

Baltimore City Paper ''Baltimore City Paper'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper published in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, founded in 1977 by Russ Smith and Alan Hirsch. The most recent owner was the Baltimore Sun Media Group, which purchased the pape ...

'' Critics Poll * Best Solo Performer 2006 ''Baltimore City Paper'' Readers Poll * ''Acorn Master'' #1 in Top 30 played albums on

in July 2006 * ''Spiderman of the Rings'' named Best New Music on ''

'' in May 2007 with an 8.7 rating * "Wham City" was listed #30 on ''Pitchfork'' "Top 100 Tracks of 2007" * Awarded "Best Awesome" by ''COOL!'' magazine * ''Spiderman of the Rings'' named one of the best records of 2007 by ''

CMJ New Music Monthly CMJ Holdings Corp. is a music events, online media company and a distributor of up and coming music CDs, originally founded in 1978, which ran a website, hosted an annual festival in New York City, and published two magazines, ''CMJ New Music ...

'' * "The Crystal Cat" Single listed in top 100 singles of 2007 by ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

'' magazine * ''Spiderman of the Rings'' named one of the 25 best records of 2007 by ''Pitchfork'' * ''Bromst'' named Best New Music on ''Pitchfork'' in March 2009 with an 8.5 rating * Performance with

at the

Merkin Concert Hall Merkin Hall is a 449-seat concert hall in Manhattan, New York City. The hall, named in honor of Hermann and Ursula Merkin, is part of the Kaufman Music Center, a complex that includes the Lucy Moses School, a community arts school, and the Spec ...

as part of the Ecstatic Music Festival named one of the top 10 classical music performances of 2011 by ''

'' magazine * ''Gliss Riffer'' named Best Album of 2015 by ''Baltimore City Paper'' * '' Rat Film (Original Soundtrack)'' nominated for Best Original score in the 2018

* ''Spiderman of the Rings'' / ''Ultimate Reality'' 10th anniversary show named Best Concert of 2018 by

WTMD WTMD (89.7 FM broadcasting, FM) is a non-commercial educational station, non-commercial public radio, public radio station city of license, licensed to Towson, Maryland, and serving the Baltimore metropolitan area. It broadcasts an adult album al ...

(89.7 FM) * BSO Pulse performance with the

named Best Concert of 2019 by ''Baltimore'' magazine * ''Time Trial (Original Soundtrack)'' nominated for Best Original score in the 2019

* ''

(Original Soundtrack)'' wins top award Outstanding Original Score in the 2022

* ''

(Original Soundtrack)'' nominated for Outstanding Original Score in the 2022

References

External links

* *
Wham City video profile

Dan Deacon interview for the ''New York Times''

Dan Deacon's electronic jungle
— A June 2007 Associated Press interactive piece with Dan Deacon explaining his instruments. {{DEFAULTSORT:Deacon, Dan 1981 births Living people American electronic musicians State University of New York at Purchase alumni Musicians from Baltimore People from West Babylon, New York Domino Recording Company artists Carpark Records artists 20th-century American composers 21st-century American composers American experimental composers American film score composers American male film score composers