The Neighbourhood

“I hate the beach, but I stand in California with my toes in the sand.” When The Neighbourhood’s Jesse Rutherford sang that line on his band’s 2013 alt-pop earworm, “Sweater Weather” he was doing more than just hinting at his preference for long-sleeved tops—he was positioning his group as the go-to soundtrack to your endless summer bummer. Released two years after The Neighbourhood formed in the L.A. suburb of Newbury Park, “Sweater Weather” was perfectly acclimated to a moment when songs like Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know” and Foster the People’s “Pumped Up Kicks” were blurring the lines between moody alternative rock and ebullient Top 40 pop. While The Neighbourhood may have initially looked the part of the tattooed, leather-clad, five-piece hipster rock band, they became evermore fluent in the language of modern R&B and rap: They followed their platinum-selling debut, I Love You., with the trap-inspired mixtape #000000 & #FFFFFF, featuring cameos from YG and French Montana, while the dramatic 2015 anthem “R.I.P. to My Youth” sees Rutherford channelling the self-flagellating antihero confessionals of The Weeknd. Their 2020 release, however, heralded not just a radical change in sound but in persona: Taking a page from the Sgt. Pepper/Ziggy Stardust playbook, Chip Chrome & The Mono-Tones outfits The Neighbourhood with a silver-painted alien alter ego in service of a bold, MGMT-esque fusion of glam, electro and psychedelia.