Dan Deacon

Mystic Familiar

The best thing about Mystic Familiar is how the beautiful composition of the music reinforces the power of the lyrics' message.

Dan Deacon maintains his constant look towards salvation and joy and retains an almost incomparable gift for conjuring them in a listener.

For fans that saw the culmination of his artistic prowess in Gliss Riffer, Mystic Familiar will fulfill many of the same needs, but with even greater balance in execution.

Breezy pop structures are undercut by experimental sound design, a playful spirit buoying up the record throughout.

It’s beautiful, mad and disturbing in equal measure. Like the real world, but better.

As playful, exciting, transcendent and thought-provoking as anything prior, but with a lot more openness, it feels like a wonderful new evolution for a restless artist.

Like much of his work since 2009's astounding Bromst, the arrangements are driving and full of excitement, but not quite in the same manic sugar-rush way as Spiderman of the Rings.

‘Mystic Familiar’ is Deacon’s most kaleidoscopic work yet – it often feels like spinning through an LSD-enhanced wonderland – but also his most human record.

Moods shift significantly throughout Mystic Familiar, but the themes are constant. Dan Deacon has let us into his mind for the first time and it has only compounded his mystique.

Dan Deacon hones his trademark fusion of electro-psychedelia and post-minimalism on Mystic Familiar.

It's the way Mystic Familiar sounds, though, that's most striking: take the closing "Bumble Bee Crown King", its intricate digital patterns imagining a Legend of Zelda game scored by Steve Reich.

Dan Deacon’s return into the solo world has resulted in an exuberant fifth album that leaves us craving for more of his newly honed skills.

Mystic Familiar keeps Dan Deacon's signature musical appeal while utilizing a few new tools. The album delivers on the camaraderie and musicianship you expect from the Baltimore producer.

For all of his newfound nuance as a film composer, some of the nagging aspects of Deacon’s previous efforts drag Mystic Familiar down.