Fire and neon-together at last

Many music savvy critics claim to have foreseen the utterly inevitable alliance between two of today’s most recognized and exciting psychedelic rock bands: The Flaming Lips and Neon Indian. This year, the Flaming Lips have collaborated with Alan Palomo, lead man for the supreme chill-wave group Neon Indian, to produce their first 12-inch untitled EP.

The assorted-color vinyl records have yet to reach a level of widespread distribution. However, the highly amiable Wayne Coyne has reportedly been delivering the EPs in person to record stores around his hometown of Norman, Oklahoma and Oklahoma City, with further intentions to drive down to Texas to deliver even more copies, according to his Twitter page last week.

The album was recorded at Tarbox Road studio in upstate New York and was also apparently worked on at Coyne’s Norman home, which is affirmed by the album’s inside cover.

The record’s leading single thus far, “Is David Bowie Dying?”, makes clear the reason that the EP isn’t exactly being widely distributed. Composed of heavy guitar licks broken apart by random sonic bleeps and long-lasting crackling sounds, this six-plus minute song might be a good indication of why this EP is merely just a taste, and not considered a full-fledged meal.

A main point that must be established is that this album seems to be a perfect blend of the Flaming Lips’ later half—taking into account their artistic breakthrough with “Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots”—mixed with the nostalgic dreaminess feel that Neon Indian has become known for evoking in its music.

Relishing the common knowledge that the Flaming Lips’ spacey style and uncanny ability to captivate listeners by blessing their ears with something undoubtedly different (but rather highly creative) goes to show that this EP may just very well be an act of weirdness for the sake of weirdness.

The second song on side A of the album, “Alan’s Theremin,” is comprised of the same melodramatic feel that the previous track “Is David Bowie Dying?” brings to the table. Getting through the seemingly endless minute-long introduction (consisting of crackling effects with heavy synth textures that fade in and out through what sounds like an intense array of rotary effects) does the job of making you wonder, “Where the hell are they going with this?”

When the synth scales start repeating as if they were constructing their very own twilight zone, the familiar sound of a guitar brushes your ears and the ambiance of the song takes on a very well defined spacey texture. One thing to remember is that this song is eight minutes of textured sounds. About four minutes through the song, the cracking that flooded the introduction starts to dissipate and the sounds take on a much clearer texture, giving the listener what feels like a fresh breath of air.

In conclusion, this EP is an array of what sounds like the two groups’ sonic experiments coming together. The EP will also be recognized for being a part of one of the most predictable match-ups in the kingdom of modern experimental and psychedelic rock. Don’t expect anything groundbreaking here, but it can’t hurt to give it a listen. ?