Well, I think I just blew-out the speakers in my DMC Delorean. Alan Palomo’s first album as Neon Indian, Psychic Chasms, is a treble-overloaded, sun-washed trip to 1980s nostalgia.
“Glo-fi,” an indie music aesthetic that developed out of the Brooklyn music scene this year will most likely die over the winter. All of the songs that came out of this fad have seemed to really benefit by the fact that they were released over the summer, given that all of the songs from this aesthetic had a distinct summery aspect. Bands like Washed Out and Small Black produced solid singles, but Neon Indian appears for now the only to have used the aesthetic successfully in an album format.
Every song on this album produces visions of washed-out swim trunks, warm air, beaches, and blonde hair. That is what gives the album the summery-feel, but what gives it the 1980s feeling is how the album plays. The albums sounds like a cassette that’s tape has been stretched out over repeat listens. Synths, cheap MIDI guitar, drum machine, and the aforementioned treble-overload also play a role.
The premier single, “Deadbeat Summer,” which received a good amount of airplay over college radio stations this year and, “Terminally Chill,” are the best examples of Palomo creating the distinguishable “stretched-out” sound (which he was able to do by using 70s & 80s italo-disco samples, thank you for the tip “Anti-Neon”). Although the best track on the album has to be “Ephemeral Artery,” the club-banging track on the album. I can just picture a Pontiac Trans-Am screaming down a desert highway with this song playing. My only criticism about the album is that it could have done without the intro (“(AM)”) and outro (“7000”), which seem to only be present for the sake of filling space. The opening to “Should Have Taken Acid With You” is a bit harsh and out-of-place as well. Nevertheless, the album is undeniably fun.
Unfortunately, it seems that if Neon Indian releases another album in the future, it won’t be appreciated in the way that Psychic Chasms has been. This is because the aesthetic is most likely going to be ruled by the music community as a fad. The 2000s are soon to be over and it won’t be long until music artists are recycling something else. The early-2000s saw the post-punk revival (bands like Interpol, Yeah Yeah Yeahs) and the late-2000s saw the development of neo-1980s music (Crystal Castles, Neon Neon, any “glo-fi” band). Post-punk got old quick, and so will “glo-fi.” Artists that are to release music under this “glo-fi” aesthetic in the future are, in my opinion, late to the game.
(Reviewer’s Score: 3.5/5)
Locust Street 
2 Comments
That “stretched out” sound is really just blatant old samples:
Neon Indian – Deadbeat Summer
IS ACTUALLY..
Todd Rundgren – Izzat Love
AND…
Neon Indian – Psychic Chasms
IS ACTUALLY..
Pineapples- Come On Closer
Thanks for the tip, I figured that he was using samples. Any artist that is dealing with electronic music as of late are using samples for the most part.