Psychic Chasms

Neon Indian - Psychic Chasms
Critic Score
Based on 23 reviews
2009 Ratings: #101 / 923
User Score
Based on 276 ratings
2009 Rank: #100
Liked by 9 people
October 13, 2009 / Release Date
LP / Format
Lefse Records / Label
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
A.V. Club

Psychic Chasms is an excellent album of balmy psychedelia and breezy infectiousness.

86
Pitchfork
Palomo has brought all the best of 2009's summer sounds-- bedroom production, borrowed nostalgia, unresolved sadness, deceptively agile popcraft-- together on a single album.
85
Prefix

Sure, he takes his cues from old sources, but the result -- dreamwave, or chillwave, or whatever -- is so unique and lush that Palomo should be content to ride off of the high you imagine he might get from making something so effective.

85
XLR8R
Throughout the album, Palomo doesn’t want to take you anywhere, but rather sit with you, roll a joint, and talk about what was and what could’ve been.
82
Beats Per Minute

Another triumphant release from an indie buzz band – cut past the retro blogosphere-hyped nonsense and you’ll uncover an album that’ll make you feel as warm and as satisfied as you did 10 years ago, when you finally reached the elusive level 12 on Super Mario Land.

80
Evening Standard
Deadbeat Summer bounces along on a funky piano figure, Terminally Chill is as uplifting as it is laid back, and if Should Have Taken Acid With You doesn't become a cult hit, then my name's Allen Ginsberg.
80
musicOMH

But the thing Psychic Chasms does really well is when it conveys the most confounding thing about nostalgia: that muddled melancholic bit that serves as happy times' backdrop.

80
The Irish Times
He pulls sounds together - a little My Bloody Valentine guitar shimmer here, some beautifully layered electronics there - and adds enough hooks to leave you wanting more.
80
AllMusic

Even if the sheer amount of sounds Palomo crams into Neon Indian’s music is occasionally overwhelming, Psychic Chasms is a distinctive, adventurous, and heartfelt debut.

80
SPIN

A dreamy collage of samples and synth tones, Psychic Chasms succeeds both as pop ... and as affecting art.

80
Consequence of Sound
Neon Indian is the younger, wide-eyed brother making music in the basement with equipment he found in some old boxes.
80
Under the Radar
Alan Palomo's beautiful debut full-length as Neon Indian is a dirty backpack full of distorted synths, hissy cassette tape production, and 8-bit highlights that come together to make an incredibly successful album of druggy, nostalgic, emotionally complex electropop.
80
God Is in the TV
Only time will tell if Neon Indian can create anything which can find an audience beyond the realm of chillwave.
80
DIY
Luckily, ‘Psychic Chasms’ is more than mere bauble. First up, Palomo has the chops to wheel out half a dozen blissful pop beauties over a 12-track album. Not bad going by any standard, but particularly impressive in the hit-and-miss landscape of synth revivalism.
75
The 405
It'€™s garish, so overloaded it can make your head swim, but the majority of the record is awash with great ideas that are well executed.
70
Loud and Quiet
‘Psychic Chasms’ (bar a few bonus remixes) still finds an awkwardly promising middle ground – too downbeat and droning to truly capture a sense of summery optimism but a dimension away from simply muddling towards an odd technological limbo either.
70
Spectrum Culture

Psychic Chasms ... strikes a keen balance between the antiquities of the technology and the more modern compositional structure, and in such creates a distinct and notable middle ground.

70
PopMatters

Never ominous and always bright, Psychic Chasms is fantastic brain candy in the vein of electronica or millennial psychedelia.

70
Drowned in Sound
This just isn't THE RECORD OF THE YEAR that the blogosphere promised me it would be; but it is more than the sum of its parts.
64
Pretty Much Amazing

Bluntly put, Psychic Chasms sounds like my Nintendo had sex with a Theremin and then got run through the washing machine.

60
Q Magazine
It's like a broken radio stuck between frequencies, at once disorienting, woozy and supremely psychedelic.
55
Coke Machine Glow
I mean, If you’re going to tug at the heart-strings of twentysomethings with retro snippets of pop culture, at least do it with something we actually remember.
unknownpleasure
90

Tripped balls to this the other day. Turns out that was an amazing choice

NervousYoungMan
NR

where the fuck are you Alan ????

usedtobe
88

The very first chill-wave record I've heard and still trips me out every time. Supremely infectious.

Krolljr
95

Why did no one make music as crunchy and blasted as this ever again? This album is super warm and sunbaked in all the best ways. This is the definition of 2009 indie. (Also don't sleep on that Amazing Toro y moi remix of deadbeat summer!)

DrakeBonna
72

Favourite Tracks:

6669 (I Don't Know If You Know) - 79
Should Have Taken Acid with You - 81

handpump4
84

A short and sweet chillwave album that doesn’t overstay its welcome.

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