Neon Indian: Era Extraña – review

In the wake of the movie Drive, with its hazily seductive soundtrack, an expansive, synth-drenched 80s sound feels positively timely. Though not old enough to remember that decade, Alan Palomo has been mining its riches for some time now, at the forefront of the oft-derided chillwave scene. His first album as Neon Indian was sun-struck and woozy; the mood, on the follow-up, has grown a little darker and on "Future Sick" the wooziness veers into nausea. Which makes the sunnier moments, when they come, all the more heightened, as when "Halogen (I Could Be a Shadow)" bursts into glorious life in the chorus.