Written and Photographed by Jessica Sondgeroth
Alan Palomo, the frontman for VEGA and Neon Indian, has made a rapid ascent in the landscape of electronic synths and beats, defining a new space in the nameless genre.
In just the last few months, Neon Indian has become one of the most blogged about bands in the blogosphere, while music critics rain praise on Palomo, calling him a genius on the synthesizer and the 80’s god of synth.
Palomo said he takes the progression with a little conscious ignorance.
“It’s really difficult to kind of step outside the situation and be like, ‘Look at where Neon Indian is’ and I try not to do that, because if I get too caught up in my own press, it’s just weird,” he said.
PART ONE: “What’s with those synths?”
Palomo said if he plays into the hype, it could stunt his creativity.
“You have to create a line in the sand with whatever it is that you do,” Palomo said. “I definitely sort of, stand by that with Neon Indian.”
But Palomo said with music reviews in international newspapers and a guest musical appearance on the Late Night Show with Jimmy Fallon, it’s a strange realization.
“It’s really quite bizarre,” he said. “It’s amazing that a little bit less than a year ago, I was writing this record here in Austin, 30 blocks that-a-way, just in my apartment, like on 45th and Duval, just like hanging out, not really communicating with anybody and focusing on music.”
PART TWO: “Growing exponentially”
Now, having returned to Austin from his new home near the studio and his record label in Brooklyn, Palomo shares no lack of enthusiasm about the experience.
“It’s so great and weird and wonderful to kind of be back here and showing it to people and performing it at South by,” he said.
What Neon Indian and VEGA bring to South by Southwest is no shortage of trippy dance electronic sounds and beats that continues to attract a growing following.
PART THREE: “What’s the difference between Vega and Neon Indian?”
“I’m pretty obsessed with electronic music, and I think, these days, people are trying to hunt for the right instrument that can really personalize your sound,” Palomo said.
The hunt for that perfect instrument, however, may not be available at your local guitar shop.
“I feel like, in a decade when you go to guitar center and everybody has a microchord and the same exact three synthesizers, you know, almost as a direct response to that, I’m trying to find some new and interesting little toy, by which I can generate sounds with,” he said.
Interesting sounds hardly qualify to describe the place that Palomo takes his music. Palomo said the defining difference between his two bands, VEGA to Neon Indian, both of which performed showcases at South by Southwest, is in approach rather than sound.
“For me, VEGA kind of comes from wanting to have these sort of, musical reference points of really inspiring pop music for me, and like, listening to ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’, and realizing that I’ve been listening to that song my entire life and I had no idea who it was, and having that kind of catharsis, like ‘Oh, my God, like New Order is the most amazing band ever,” he said. “And Neon Indian is this weird extension of myself, just whatever it is that I’m feeling at the moment. I never really set out to write a particular kind of song. I just sit down and write, which I guess, probably, explains the varied sounds on that album.”
Palomo’s creative talent, ear for sound and focus will no doubt bring new and exciting things to the electronic-synth-pop-whatever-it-is world.
PART FOUR: “Should we even categorize music any more?”
