Interestingly, the cousin duo behind Painted Palms, Reese Donahue and Christopher Prudhomme have almost always used the Internet – at first out of necessity, and later out of preference – to collaborate on their songwriting. When Donahue moved to San Francisco, Prudhomme remained near New Orleans, requiring the duo to send song ideas back and forth via email, a virtual exchange that managed to inform their debut EP, Canopy (which was championed by Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes).

After tours with Of Montreal, BRAIDS, STRFKR and others, Prudhomme moved out west to join his cousin in San Francisco – and the duo continued to collaborate via Internet for the band’s full-length debut, Forever, which managed to mesh breezy 60s inspired psychedelia and electronica in a way that indirectly channelled In Ghost Colours-era Cut Copy. The duo’s forthcoming sophomore effort, Horizons was mixed by former DFA Records engineer Eric Broucek, who’s worked with LCD Soundsystem and Classixx and marks the first time that the duo worked together in a studio – although they did exchange initial song ideas via email. The album’s first single “Tracer” is a chiller, synth-based song that sounds as though it were drawing from early 80s synth pop – think Depeche Mode, The Human League and others – while retaining some of the 60s psych pop feel through the song’s vocals. Yes, it creates a much darker feel but it’s also arguably the most subtly sensual song they’ve released to date.