The new record is Alan Palomo’s flawless bridge between the lofi and spontaneous sounds of Neon Indian & the more dance-oriented approach of his earlier recording moniker, VEGA.
Part of the album was created on a cruise ship with Alan and his brother Jorge, who was working on the ship as a bass player in the house band. They set up a studio in one of the cabins and tracked songs between margaritas as the ship traversed the Bahamas from Florida. Palomo then returned to the mainland to finish the record doing tracking in Austin, Atlanta and New York including a stint at DFA’s Plantain Studios. The result is more funk-centric and varied than his previous material.
Alan teamed up with Alex Epton (XXXchange) to mix the album, using trashy B movies and New York flicks as a reference point for the albums tone. More than ever, the goal of this LP was intended to be a film score to an imaginary film playing indefinitely at the neglected theaters or porno booths of Alan’s head.
The album wasn’t without its drama with Alan slipping on some icy stairs on his way to the studio, requiring 9 stitches and leaving him with a scar that will forever remind him of the record.
Upon the albums completion, Alan noted “most of what I’ve learned about human nature in my twenties has happened after dark. People are just kind of more honest then. More deliberate. I like to call the places I go to Night Schools.”
To celebrate the marriage of his previous project’s aesthetic into one and his eureka regarding its themes, he dubbed this double album, VEGA INTL. Night School
