Neon Indian - 'Psychic Chasms'

The noughties have somewhat proved to be an underground success for the revival of the nostalgic electro sounds of the eighties. Ed Banger, Kitsuné and DFA are just three well acclaimed record labels that have produced and released successful artists that have fused electro and house culture to alternative and Indie music loving audience. And in the final year of this decade we see the turn of Texas duo Alan Palomo and Alicia Scardetta, aka Neon Indian release their eponymous debut LP ‘Psychic Chasms‘. There’s a noticeable influence in the godfathers of revived electro disco Daft Punk here, where these 30 minutes of filtered synth pop and lo-fi vocals from Scardetta also touch on some M83 style shoegaze appreciation. ‘Psychic Chasms’ cleverly produces an album of basic synth-pop that successfully manages to fuse together a varied selection of sub-genres from the European electronic scene, with French electronica and Italian Disco both prominent on the record.
The debut single ‘Deadbeat Summer’ lets the listener know what is in store for the next half hour, with the less than 1 minute skits binding the album together from the start. Other personal highlights include the arpeggio vocal loops of ’Laughing Gas’ and the synth pop sounds of the title track.
All in all, despite not being the most original release of 2009, it is still a fun piece of dance music where as we come to the end of another decade, ‘Psychic Chasms’ is a fitting representation of how electro music has evolved throughout the past 10 years.

Freddy Rothman