Neon Indian is Alan Palomo, the Mexican-born, Texas-raised, brilliantly lucid early 20's synth-wizard who learned his production chops as part of Ghosthunter and honed them in Vega. The new album is a blissful listen of layered ethereal sounds and indistinguishable vocals, with an overall 80s teenage angst that's not too dissimilar to French producer M83's great album of a few years back, Saturdays = Youth. Palomo claims, perhaps not entirely truthfully, that Era Extraña is a search for the meaning of cyberpunk; but even the title, a Spanish wordplay on "strange" and "longing", is elusive.
