Has the backlash against Chillwave subsided yet? Have we given up beating a dead genre label and gotten back to listening to the music? After the initial excitement generated by his debut Psychic Chasms, Alan Palomo received an avalanche of ill will based solely on the fact that his music was labeled as Chillwave, as did Washed Out, Toro Y Moi and others. This had less to do with the fact that the music was of poor quality, which it wasn’t, and more to do with the fact that it was cool to hate on Chillwave, a poorly conceived genre label if ever there was one. Palomo, as Neon Indian, has given the doubters enough reason to drop their misguided loathing and focus instead on the swirling, synth drenched rays of Era Extrana. By tightening up the arrangements and allowing less room for unfocused movement, he has taken what made his debut so memorable, the beautiful synth washes and lush, hazy melodies, and used his experience in the intervening years to produce an album of constantly shifting beauty and exacting precision. And while that may seem to take all the spontaneity out of a “genre” which by its very nature is based on the fluid movement of synths across programmed beats, the resulting album seems so effortless and lovingly crafted that the precision and specific nature of these songs feel even more a part of a whole than did the songs on his debut. He manages to make even the most ostensibly different sounding songs feel connected, in that there is less an emotional disconnect than you might expect. A song like the more traditional “Polish Girl”, with its structured synths and polished beats, never feels out of place or lightweight in comparison to the more epic songs like “Halogen (I Could Be A Shadow)” or “The Blindside Kiss”. Neon Indian have confounded expectations since their debut was released in 2009, even up to the slightly uneven split EP with The Flaming Lips earlier this year. Whether intentional or not, Neon Indian has unfairly been branded the unofficial pinata for Chillwave. Remember, it's the music folks. It's the fucking music that matters.
Tracklisting:
01. Heart: Attack
02. Polish Girl (listen to the mp3 below)
03. Blindside Kiss
04. Hex Girlfriend
05. Heart: Decay
06. Fall Out
07. Era Extraña
08. Halogen (I Could Be a Shadow)
09. Future Sick
10. Suns Irrupt
11. Heart: Release
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