Barking Owl Adds Critically Acclaimed Musician Dan Deacon to Roster

Barking Owl has added Baltimore-based musician Dan Deacon to their ranks. Renowned by both critics and audiences alike for his sonic risk-taking, exuberant live performances, and penchant for absurdism and pop culture, Dan Deacon’s artfully intricate compositions are a natural fit for Barking Owl. With award-winning work spanning musical genres and intricate soundscapes, Barking Owl was just named Ad Age’s A-List Music & Sound Company of the Year for the fourth year running.

“What I love most about Dan’s music is its sense of place, whether that place is an actual place, a feeling, a moment - it’s extremely atmospheric and immersive,” says Barking Owl founder Kelly Bayett. “His film-scoring work drops you into the setting and underpins all the emotionality of the directors’ work. We’re ecstatic to have him on board with Barking Owl, and we can’t wait to collaborate with him.”

Within the realm of live performance, Deacon has premiered compositions at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center and collaborated with innumerable artists and institutions, including Kronos Quartet, Sō Percussion, the LA Philharmonic, and Justin Peck with the New York City Ballet. He has also toured internationally with popular recording artists, including Arcade Fire, Miley Cyrus, Future Islands, and The Flaming Lips. When performing solo, his live shows are known for large-scale audience participation, frequently setting up his performance space on the floor level with the audience and engaging in close proximity.

His work in the classic-contemporary scene led Dan Deacon into the world of film and television. Deacon created original music for Francis Ford Coppola’s horror feature film Twixt, starring Val Kilmer. His work composing for documentary films All Light, Everywhere (2021, Sundance Film Festival) and Ascension (2021, Tribeca Film Festival) garnered him nominations for Outstanding Original Score at the Cinema Eye Honors in 2022, with Deacon taking home the prize for Ascension. Deacon has also provided the musical score for the sports drama Hustle starring Adam Sandler, currently streaming on Netflix. 

Deacon had this to say regarding working with the creative sound studio: “Feeling safe to explore ideas is the foundation of my collaborative process. No matter the size or scope of a project, with Barking Owl, I always feel like I am in the best place for fostering that exploration between me and the larger team. I'm eagerly looking forward to more collaborations with them and seeing all that we create together.”