A recent wave in the world of Indie has washed ashore a new subgenre of lo-fi synth acid pop—music that sounds like it was recorded in an ‘80s dream, placed in a time capsule, buried and rediscovered decades later. Neon Indian is such a band, making its debut with Psychic Chasms. All you need to know about the album is in its title—it’s the lo-fi kid brother of MGMT and Cut Copy catapulted to the ‘80s, flashing lights, poufy hair and all. Psychedelic as it is, Neon Indian fits right into the easy-breezy-summer-day soundtrack along with Panda Bear, Washed Out and Wavves.

The album flexes its muscles of range with poppy electro-funk beats and lazy ether-infused tracks reminiscent of a sepia toned day at the beach. Amidst subdued vocals and soft keyboards, the album’s single opener “Deadbeat Summer” is somehow suggestive of a Passion Pit daydream.

The album is catchy in its confusion with lazy, repetitive lyrics set against a psychedelic beat in songs like “Should Have Taken Acid With You” (a track compelling in its title alone) and “6669 (I Don’t Know If You Know).” Perhaps the zenith of the album, “Mind, Drips” is a synthtastic retro-pop jam that, like the album’s namesake track, pulls from the best of the ‘80s.

Psychic Chasms, with its general sluggishness, provides the perfect soundtrack for a lazy day.

-Witler

Tracklist

1. (AM)
2. Deadbeat Summer
3. Laughing Gas
4. Terminally Chill
5. (If I Knew, I’d Tell You)
6. 6669 (I don’t know if you know)
7. Should Have Taken Acid With You
8. Mind, Drips
9. Psychic Chasms
10. Local Joke
11. Ephemeral Artery
12. 7000 (Reprise)