America

fantano

On his latest effort, Dan Deacon starts fleshing his heavily electronic and classically influenced compositions with some top-notch orchestral instrumentation.

pitchfork

America is both Dan Deacon's most expansive album and his most inward-looking. The first half's an attempt to extend his range as a songwriter beyond human freak-out. The second half's four linked pieces add up to his most intricate, involving piece to date.

rollingstone

University-trained Baltimore composer Dan Deacon makes busy, bombastic electro-classical clatter. He's the EDM Aaron Copland, piling on marimbas, strings, blips, bonks, live percussion and operatic vocals on pieces like this LP's four-part suite, "USA." Yet the most enjoyable bits here are the least grandiose, like the zippy, pastoral "True Thrush." Listen to "True Thrush":