Dan Deacon: Gliss Riffer review – pop outsider relaxes into his own sound

Dan Deacon is a self-confessed weirdo who sits at the edge of pop and experimentation: not strange enough for the avant garde, yet not straight enough for the mainstream. His fourth album, Gliss Riffer, continues that singular journey and coerces elements of pop and madcap electronica into a convincing mix. He manages moments that sound like Grandaddy’s trucker-cap whimsy (Learning to Relax) and others that are closer to bonafide one-offs Matmos (Mind On Fire). Regardless of his angle of attack, all the tracks here share the pop-tune-drenched-in-ephemera approach that has worked so well for him and the likes of Panda Bear previously. Instrumental tracks Take It to the Max (on which Deacon goes off on an eight-minute synth meander) and Meme Generator are particular standouts. He’s described the album as him “trying to relax”, and he certainly sounds comfortable in his own musical skin.