Neon Indian
Last Thursday night, Neon Indian returned to Mezzanine for their second performance there this year. The brainchild of Denton, Texas resident Alan Palomo, Neon Indian has been the poster child for the indie sub genre “chillwave” since the release of their album Psychic Chasms in late 2009. The distinct vintage oscillating synths, reverb soaked vocals, along with distorted and delayed guitar riffs that abound on the album have become the benchmark for other chillwave artists.
Neon Indian
Neon Indian
Neon Indian
With the help of a full band consisting of guitarist Ronald Gierhart, keyboardist Leanne Macomber, and drummer Jason Faries, Palomo has been touring heavily over the past year. Capitalizing on the trend that Neon Indian helped mold, their live set visually reflects the sound on their recordings. During one song Palomo was utilizing the sounds of a theramin, a rarely seen instrument in the indie world. The visual highlight of the evening may very well have been when Gierhart switched to a guitar with an LCD screen embedded into it’s body, with rapidly moving color patterns on display while he played.
Neon Indian
Neon Indian
Neon Indian
Overall it was a very solid performance from this young, but now road tested band. Now I’m curious if they will be promoting a sophomore album the next time they return to San Francisco. Indeed I hope so and I hope it is sooner rather than later.
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[mp3] NEON INDIAN- Psychic Chasms from Psychic Chasms (2009)