Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms

Tim

15 years ago

It may be a late arrival to our rainy shores after being one of the best received albums in the US in 2009, but that doesn’t mean those of us on this side of the pond shouldn’t delight in this debut from Neon Indian (MySpace) right now. The whole album is a bizarre mix of lo-fi and a Nintendo resurrection of 80s pop, all warm and fuzzy.

Some parts do go a little far into the 80s children’s themetune sound like Terminally Chill, but on the whole the album picks you up and hugs you as a 80s child with dreams of a colourful dream-like future with red skies and blue grass. For me, Alan Palomo’s skill is transforming these cute synthetic squeals into a fully formed pop song, such as the delightful Deadbeat Summer, which sounds a little like Daft Punk if they were enjoying the sunshine of their teenage years before donning their masks/helmets.

When Palomo decides to give his songs some purpose, such as with the simple 4/4 on 6669 (I Don’t Know If You Know) you know you’re in good hands, as your foot taps whilst the synthetic kaleidoscope flies around your ears. There’s a nursery rhyme and magic roundabout quality to the album that still makes this album stand part and above so many of the recent lo-fi offerings. And while the sounds are a little scattered, there are enough gems on here with a good few with stronger beats (notably Ephemeral Artery) to keep the album pushing forward.

The schizophrenic addition of seven different remixes from the likes of Toro Y Moi, Javelin, Bibio, Yacht, and The Antlers on the record are very welcome as well, each managing to bring out the original songs heart and warmth, but often in a quite different direction than the cloudscape original.

Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms is out on Lefse Records right now.

Neon Indian – Deadbeat Summer
Neon Indian – Should Have Taken Acid With You