''America'' is the third

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by American

electronic Electronic may refer to: *Electronics, the science of how to control electric energy in semiconductor * ''Electronics'' (magazine), a defunct American trade journal *Electronic storage, the storage of data using an electronic device *Electronic co ...

musician

Dan Deacon Daniel Deacon (born August 28, 1981) is an American composer and electronic musician based in Baltimore, Maryland. Deacon is renowned for his live shows, where large-scale audience participation and interaction is often a major element of the pe ...

, released August 27, 2012, on Domino Records. The album cover is a photo of Lake Placid in the US state of New York.Battan, Carrie
"Dan Deacon Shares Album Cover, Tour Dates"
''

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

''. 14 June 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012.

Recording

Production

''America'' was recorded using both electronic sounds and live recordings. An

anechoic chamber An anechoic chamber (''an-echoic'' meaning "non-reflective") is a room designed to stop reflections of either sound or electromagnetic waves. They are also often isolated from energy entering from their surroundings. This combination means ...

was built in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

to record the orchestral track "Rail".Pelly, Jenn
Update: Dan Deacon
''Pitchfork Media''. 20 July 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012. The reason Deacon decided to incorporate live instruments onto the album was that Deacon felt that electronic beats were limited by its lack of flaws and that he wanted the "slight imperfection in timing" human musicians have. Because he wanted the album to sound "more like a rock record" than an electronic one, Deacon enlisted

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

engineer Simon Heyworth to master the album.

Themes

In an interview with

NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...

, Deacon said that the album was inspired by the

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

and

geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

of the United States, saying: Deacon described the album as "political", saying that the lyrics were "inspired by my frustration, fear and anger towards the country and world I live in and am a part of."Deacon, Dan
Dan Deacon , America
dandeacon.com. Retrieved 29 August 2012. However, Deacon also said that he did not want the political nature to be overt, arguing that people do not respond to overt political messages.Tarr, Joe
Dan Deacon Explores America on His New Album

Metro Pulse ''Metro Pulse'' was a weekly newspaper in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1991 by Ashley Capps, Rand Pearson, Ian Blackburn, and Margaret Weston, and was a member of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. In 2007, ''Metro Pulse'' ...

. 29 August 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012.

Lyrics and inspirations

"Rail" was inspired by an empty train ride Deacon was on while traveling from

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. "Rail" was also inspired by an orchestral work Deacon wrote for 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, Ontario, Cambridge, Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener and Waterloo, Ontario, Water ...

. "Manifest" was about "figuring out where I fit in regards to the way my mind perceives me," while "True Thrush" was "about confusion and loss of self" and the "homogenization of culture." The track "USA I: Is A Monster" took its name from the rock band The USA Is a Monster.

Release

The first song from the album, "Lots," was uploaded to

SoundCloud SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...

by Domino Records on May 29, 2012. A second song, "True Thrush," was released on July 10, 2012.Dan Deacon – “True Thrush”

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several award ...

. 10 July 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012. On July 18, 2012, a music video for "True Thrush" was released. The music video, directed by Ben O' Brien and Deacon, featured teams of people playing a skit-based game of

telephone A telephone is a telecommunications device that permits two or more users to conduct a conversation when they are too far apart to be easily heard directly. A telephone converts sound, typically and most efficiently the human voice, into e ...

.Breihan, Tom
Dan Deacon – “True Thrush” Video

. 18 July 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012. On August 21, 2012, the album was streamed in its entirety on ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

''.Dan Deacon – America: exclusive album stream
''

''. 21 August 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012. Music from this album was used in the

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; 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 representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

television series ''

Off the Air In the broadcasting industry, a dark television station or silent radio station is one that has gone off the air for an indefinite period of time. Usually unlike dead air (broadcasting only silence), a station that is dark or silent does not eve ...

'' for a special entitled " Dan Deacon: U.S.A.", which aired on July 6, 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' ...

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 ...

used "USA I-IV" suite from ''America'' for his ballet ''

The Times Are Racing ''The Times Are Racing'' is a one-act ballet by Justin Peck, to "USA I-IV" from Dan Deacon's album '' America'', with costumes designed by Humberto Leon from the fashion label Opening Ceremony and lighting design by Brandon Stirling Baker. It ...

'', which had its premiere performance on January 26, 2017.

Reception

''America'' has received mostly positive reviews. On the review site

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the album has a score of 82 out of 100, indicating "Universal acclaim." Chris Mincher of ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'' called ''America'' "one of the more thoughtful and complex albums so far this year." Mincher continued: "''America'' ultimately embraces splendor and nobility, even as it acknowledges personal and social anxiety."

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Gregory Heaney also praised the album, writing "''America's'' artful merging of the electronic and the acoustic shows that these tools we dedicate so much time and brain space to can also be used to create something free and emotionally invigorating. ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

''s John Calvert called ''America'' "a profound statement," writing "Deacon proves once and for all that there's nothing wrong with being cool, as long as you're awesome." Adam Kivel of ''

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. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...

'' wrote, "After taking in an album like this, there's no remaining uncertainty about how he got here. There should only be reveling in the achievement, the artistic growth, and the pleasure of the experience. This is a sonic representation of the grandeur of ''America'' as it stands, a classically inspired composition built with all the tools available."Kivel, Adam
Album Review: Dan Deacon - America

. 27 August 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012. While criticizing the lyrics for being "hard to discern," Neil Ashman of ''

Drowned in Sound ''Drowned in Sound'', sometimes abbreviated to ''DiS'', is a UK-based music webzine financed by artist management company Silentway. Founded by editor Sean Adams, the site features reviews, news, interviews, and discussion forums. History ''D ...

'' concluded his review with: "No one concept album, even one with the complexity of ''America,'' could ever hope to fully address the manifold problems of the USA, but in searching for his own answers Dan Deacon has crafted an unique testament to this fact and to his own inimitable, and ever increasing, talents."Ashman, Neil
Dan Deacon - America
.

. 22 August 2012. Retrieved 28 August 2012. Not all reviews were entirely positive. ''

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

''s Jon Dolan gave the album a mixed review, writing: " e most enjoyable bits here are the least grandiose, like the zippy, pastoral 'True Thrush. Randall Roberts of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' wrote: " ough ''America'' is an explosive document, half the time it's a lot of smoke and bang, and it treads on territory that others have explored more thoughtfully."Roberts, Randall
Album review: Dan Deacon's 'America'
''

''. 27 August 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2012. ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

''s Jess Harvell, while still giving the album a positive review, criticized the album's middle section, writing "It's the middle of the album that fizzles slightly after the bracing crunch and buzz of the first three songs ..."

Track listing

Personnel

The following people contributed to ''America'':America - Dan Deacon: Credits

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. Retrieved 29 August 2012.

Musicians

* Sara Autrey - flute * Zoe Band - alto * Mia Barcia-Colombo - cello * Dennis P. Bowen - percussion * Gabriel Caballero - gello * William Cashion - guitar (bass) * Ali Clendaniel - soprano * Dan Deacon - arranger, composer, electronics, engineer, mixing, producer, vocals * Julienne Gede - soprano * Rod Hamilton - percussion * Christian Hizon - trombone (bass) * Gerry Mak - viola * Sophia Mak - violin * Patrick McMinn - trumpet * R.M. O'Brien - tuba * Bijan Olia - orchestrator, conductor, copyist, piano * Kevin O'Meara - percussion * Rich O'Meara - percussion * Nicole Papadatos - clarinet, clarinet (bass) * Devlin Rice - composer, guitar (bass), guitar (electric) * Victor Ruch - violin * Rob Sirois - bassoon * Andrew Smith - French horn * Maureen Smith - alto

Additional personnel

* Rob Carmichael - design * Griffin Cohen - assistant engineer * Richard Endres - back cover photo, cover photo * Dan Frome - assistant engineer * Chester Endersby Gwazda - engineer, mixing, producer * Simon Heyworth - mastering * Andy Miles - mastering assistant * Josh Sisk - photography

Charts

References

External links

Domino's page on ''America''
{{Authority control 2012 albums Domino Recording Company albums Dan Deacon albums