On The Verge

Neon Indian

Denton, Texas/Brooklyn, N.Y.
High-energy Chillwave
www.neonindian.com

“PFFFFTTT, ZZZHGGGRRHHH, KSSHHHHHTTTFFFF... or a variation of those consonants,” is what Alan Palomo (aka Neon Indian ) says his music sounds like. And, in the live setting, fans can expect “a mass of delay and beat-shuffling” from the 23-year-old, Mexican-born chillwave musician. He draws his moniker from a make-believe band conceived by a former high school girlfriend and adds that though he now lives in Brooklyn, he “left his heart at a taco stand” in Austin, Texas. “I tend to obsess over small increments or loops on repeat and stay in that space until the song starts informing me why it’s even being actualized,” he says. “Once I find myself in that frenzy, lyrics and arrangements will spew out in a single burst.” While the “really raw and somewhat violent synth sounds” of the D.A.F. record Alles Ist Gut helped inform Palomo’s new release Era Extraña, his “forever favorites” are Yellow Magic Orchestra, Gary Numan and Todd Rundgren. “It’s important to find those little snapshots that remind you why you wouldn’t want to do anything else,” Palomo explains, recalling his favorite music moments. “Most recently, it’s Theremin feedback loops at 4 a.m. with Wayne Coyne.”