Alan Palomo

Alan Palomo is a singer-songwriter, producer, and DJ who created and front the project Neon Indian, which released three studio albums and appeared on The Tonight Show. The project Neon Indian officially concluded in 2023 and Alan Palomo is now performing under his own name. Additionally, he scored the films Lace Crater (2015), Everything Beautiful Is Far Away (2017), and Relaxer (2018), and appeared in Song to Song (2017). He has directed two music videos for Neon Indian. Palomo was born in Monterrey, Mexico, and later moved to San Antonio, Texas at the age of 5. He relocated to Denton, Texas for college at the University of North Texas. Palomo had already been writing and performing music before the inception of Neon Indian, in his projects Ghosthustler and VEGA, through much of his high school years. Shortly before the release of Psychic Chasms, Palomo said he planned on releasing another album as VEGA, although this did not happen. In an interview, Palomo cites his father as a musical influence, "just because that's how he makes his living—he had a brief stint in the late 70s and early 80s as a Mexican pop star." Palomo also said that he sampled some of his father's material in his work with Neon Indian. The name Neon Indian was conceived by an ex-girlfriend of Palomo's, Alicia Scardetta, who was also the subject of their song "Should Have Taken Acid with You". The song was originally presented as a musical apology for a missed acid date. Her positive reaction to the song spurred Palomo to continue writing more songs as Neon Indian. When performing, Palomo is joined on stage by a live band, which originally consisted of Jason Faries (drums), Leanne Macomber (keyboard, vocals), and Lars Larsen (live visuals). Ronald Gierhart played guitar and sang in the live group prior to 2011, leaving to finish college and begin a solo project called Ronnie Heart. Palomo later revised the live lineup, with only Faries remaining from the original backing band. Added were keyboardist Drew Erickson, guitar and synth player Max Townsley, and Palomo's brother, bassist Jorge Palomo. During the 2019 tour, Brad Oberhofer joined on synth. Palomo has not released an EP or Studio Album for Neon Indian since 2015's 'Vega Intl. Night School' and has not released a single since 2019's 'Toyota Man'. Finally on June 6th, 2023 Alan Palomo announced his next album, which will be his solo debut album and it’s called “World Of Hassle”. It’s set to release on September 15 under his full given name on Mom + Pop. Before he announced it though he already released one single from the album called “Nudista Mundial '89” which featured Mac DeMarco. It was released on May 1st of 2023. Then in June, he released another single called “Stay-At-Home DJ” which was known as a song that originally debuted live in 2019 during the last Neon Indian tour. The new album will also have another feature Flore Benguigui a French singer known for her nu-disco/indie pop band L'Impératrice. The song is called “Meutrière”, a song in French, a first for Alan. Palomo also mentioned in his album announcement that he will be releasing a new song from the album each month in the summer until August. Additionally, he also announced a tour for the fall of 2023 called “Alan Palomo Tours A World Of Hassle” to celebrate the new album and return live for the first time since 2019 with a full band after a few DJ sets in the summer. World of Hassle originally began as a new album for Neon Indian, the fourth installment of an unhurriedly growing body of work stretching back to 2009’s Psychic Chasms, with an intended swerve into vintage Peruvian cumbia and a political album concept in 2019, but was derailed by the ambiguous psychic space of quarantine in 2020, where concepts like “deadline” and “career trajectory” started to shed their certainty. Palomo unlocked a new flow by letting go of the album concept, followed by the Neon Indian name. He bought a piano and learned to play it properly, unlocking a creative current that pulled him in unexpected but fruitful directions. From the intricate fictional details packed into the cover art (co-created by Palomo and designer Robert Beatty) to the lyrical collage of pop culture and political references to the music’s early-digital sheen, the album evokes the 80s golden age of rock stars like Bryan Ferry and Sting leaving their own breakthrough projects to strike out as jazzy solo musicians. Alan Palomo returned to the live stage with a full band for the first time in 4 years with his US tour that started on October 17, 2023. This tour is in celebration and style of his new album “World of Hassle” under his own name. The new revised band kept members Max Townsley (Keys and Guitar) and Jorge Palomo (Bass and Percussion) but replaced the drummer from last time as Neon Indian with Enrique Lara this time. They also added Saxophonist Ian Young who’s known for his work on the band M83. Ian Young also plays some synth and horn parts for some songs as well. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.