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artist.....: Neon Indian
album......: Era Extrana
year.......: 2011
label......: Transgressive
TRANS132
source.....: CDDA
moodswing..: Indie
releasesize: 81,1 MB
tracks.....: 12
length.....: 42:10 min
encoder....: VBR LAME 3.98.4 -V0
quality....: avg. 263kbps
scenealized: 11.14.2011
Some people laugh at chillwave
precisely because so many of its
practitioners lack a sense of humor.
But Alan Palomo is an exception. In
2009, the Texas-raised musician's Neon
Indian project debuted with the
excellent Psychic Chasms. Like a lot
of young musicians, the then-21-year-
old Palomo was inspired by Ariel Pink,
and he certainly shared that art-pop
oddball's sense of irreverence. Below
the static and sneakily intricate
synth patterns, Psychic Chasms was a
funny, playful record, with goofy,
drugged-out moments exemplified by
song titles like "Laughing Gas".
As the buzz around Psychic Chasms
increased, the narrative shifted. Neon
Indian attained a surprising level of
popularity that was bolstered by a
rocking, party-ready live show,
drawing in fans of populist acts like
Passion Pit and MGMT. After that
raised profile, Neon Indian's second
album, Era Extra±a, shows a commitment
to tighter, wide-reaching songcraft
and appeal. The production value is at
a higher level, with additional mixing
by big-name studio guy Dave Fridmann
(the Flaming Lips, MGMT), who forgoes
his usual noise-bombing style for a
more subtle approach. Those drawn to
Psychic Chasms' warped view of pop or
outrΘ work like the difficult,
abstract EP with the Flaming Lips last
year may be disappointed; Era Extra±a
instead builds on Neon Indian's one-
off single with Green Label Sound last
year, the straightforward "Sleep
Paralysist".
Reflecting the shift, there's an
increased focus on streamlined
melodies; the vocal gasps and moans
that streaked previous highs like
"Terminally Chill" are still here,
just not as suffocating. The wordless
chorus of "Hex Girlfriend" is all but
set to rock a festival stage or two,
while "Halogen (I Could Be a Shadow)"
is a rush of life-affirming, upwards-
moving melodic optimism. The music
itself is intricate and accomplished,
with dizzying layers of synth
arrangements and stray sounds crammed
into even the most big-tent cuts--
we're talking rocket-ship noises,
phone conversations, lasers, and
visceral video-game samples. Despite
the kitchen-sink arrangements, the
results are taut and defined. Palomo
is anything but sloppy and he seems
focused on the album as a unified
whole: one of his finest songs yet,
the melancholy, remix-ready "Arcade
Blues", was given bonus-track status
because he felt it didn't fit in with
Era Extra±a's overriding themes.
Era Extra±a is partly about love. It
may not be "breakup album," in the
strictest sense, but the record sounds
romantic and lovesick and looks toward
sounds that bring these feelings to
mind, from the sugary crunch of Isn't
Anything-era My Bloody Valentine ("The
Blindside Kiss") to Orchestral
Manoeuvres in the Dark ("Fallout").
The feel of Era Extra±a is expansive
and lonely, like someone staring at
the night sky in solitude (he recorded
the bulk of it solo in Helsinki,
Finland during the dead of winter,
where, according to a recent Pitchfork
interview, he was often on the verge
of losing his shit mentally.)
Another topic touched on in that
interview was the album's sense of
longing, and "Future Sick" conveys the
feeling of growing older in a world
that's growing faster than you are.
Palomo bemoans having to look towards
past the present under seasick synths,
singing mid-volume under his own
creation's drunken abstraction and
promising to "wake when things start
to get peculiar".
Palomo feels more comfortable when
looking to the past than turning his
gaze to the uncertain future. While
Era Extra±a still contains the
familiar warm glow of old television
sets and half-remembered memories of
the 1980s, Palomo is more than adept
when utilizing short-term memory to
evoke some of modern indie's more
memorable 2000s-era fashions. The
insistent pulse of "Suns Irrupt" is
reminiscent of LCD Soundsystem's
"Someone Great", "Halogen (I Could Be
a Shadow)" is the near-double of M83's
teenage epic "Kim and Jessie", and the
sweetly lackadaisical verse structure
of "Polish Girl" recalls the similarly
unspooling inner monologue that runs
through Stars' "Reunion".
Coincidentally, those three songs of
the not-so-distant past all deal with
the loss of something-- a friend,
youth, and irresponsible love,
respectively. Amidst the bleepy synths
and swooning melodies, Palomo's simply
attempting not to lose himself, as he
sighs through processed vocal effects
on "Suns Irrupt": "Gone/ But I'm
waiting to be someone." Two albums in,
he remains a compelling songwriter.
The scrappy charm of Psychic Chasms
was hugely appealing from the jump and
its brilliant initial flash faded just
slightly over time. This is a far more
serious record than its predecessor,
but Palomo isn't always as assured in
rendering the darker material.
Psst, more info at www.transgressive.co.uk
01 Heart Attack 00:57
02 Polish Girl 04:24
03 The Blindside Kiss 03:34
04 Hex Girlfriend 03:16
05 Heart Decay 01:45
06 Fallout 03:32
07 Ere Extrana 02:57
08 Halogen 04:36
09 I Could Be A Shadow 04:47
10 Future Sick 05:29
11 Suns Irrupt 02:06
12 Heart Release 04:47