Neon Indian

Emerging as a blurry, sample0driven electronic pop outfit with influences ranging from Todd Rundgren to Italo-disco, Neon Indian became one of chill wave’s definitive acts in the late 2000s before founder Alan Palomo took the project in a more polished, danceable direction. With 2009’s Psychic Chasms, Neon Indian lived up to the hype generated by the project’s early singles, thanks to Palomo’s hazy but hooky swirl of disco, electro, dream, and synth pop.

Born in Monterrey, Mexico, Palomo moved to San Antonio, Texas at age five. After relocating to Denton to study at the University of North Texas, he began Neon Indian as a multimedia project with video artist Alicia Scardetta, a friend of his since high school. Palomo wrote and produced Neon Indian’s debut album, Psychic Chasms, which was hailed as one of chill wave’s definitive works soon after its arrival in October 2009. The following year, a deluxe release of the album, plus remixes by Toro y Moi, Dntel, bib, and others, arrives as Mind CTRL: Psychic Chasms Possessed.

In early 2011, Neon Indian released a four-song collaborative EP with the Flaming Lips. That September, Neon Indian’s second album, Era Extraña, which Palomo recorded in Helsinki and mixed with Flaming Lips/MGMT producer Dave Fridmann, was released. Errata Anex, a remix EP featuring Era Extraña tracks reworked by Actress, Patten, noise pioneer Boyd Rice, and others, arrived in 2013.

After Palomo’s laptop — which contained several years’ worth of demos for the third Neon Indian album — was stolen, he decided to work on other projects. These included appearing in Terrence Malick’s film Lawless and writing and scoring the short movie Outer Osmo Ghost Mode, which was commissioned by Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art. When he returned to making Neon Indian music in 2014, it was so influenced by his VEGA work that Palomo named the album VEGA INTL. Night School. Recorded around the world and mixed with onetime Spank Rock producer XXXchange, the album arrived in October 2015.

Beginning in 2017, Palomo focused on film and soundtrack work. That March, he appeared in Malick;s film Song to Song with Rooney Mara. In June, the sci-fi-fi film Everything Beautiful is Far Away — for which he composed the score — was released. He also made time to contribute a Neon Indian track to LUXE, that year’s Adult Swim collection of dream pop and future soul, and produced Boulevards’ single “Nu Burn Ave (Intercruise),” which was released that October. Palomo then composed the music for the 2018 film Relaxer, while his own short film 86’d premiered that May and featured the single “Heaven’s Basement.” During this time, Palomo began work on Neon Indian’s ext album, which took inspiration from Peruvian cumbia and psychedelic music.