Neon Trees Give Us Juicy Power Pop To Sleep On

It's fitting that Neon Trees is based in Las Vegas. The band leaves in its path the open all night energy that Sin City is best known for. You know the type. The casinos are brightly lit to convey perpetual daylight so rabid gamblers lose track of time and empty their wallets in pursuit of that big score at the slot machine or roulette wheel. From vocal to guitar to synth to drums the brand new "Sleeping With a Friend" single gives off enough heat and electricity to power a Third World Country for at least a week. Tyler Glenn wears his heart about as close to his sleeve as one could hope for. The result is preternaturally bewitching. After Christopher Allen has laid down some super radio friendly riffs and Elaine Bradley ups the fascination quotient with drums that are rapid fire relentless, "Friend" crosses that blissful line from friendly to sweat prompting swarthiness. At its tension fueled center the song explores how dangerous it is for two friends to enter lovers territory. The popular "no one wants to die alone" theme rears its "hold me, I'm so scared" head. We're dealing with star crossed pals but in fact when you take the combined mix Neon Trees has whipped up on its own merits what you have is a divine marriage of sound and use your imagination sight. As any guitarist, legend or wannabe legend should have learned by this juncture in music history is that it's not so much the value of the riff as it is what you manage to do with your skill set to make that riff leap off the fret board, thus insuring it gets a life of its own. Christopher leaps up and down his chosen means of expression's neck with the grace of that cat landing, predictably but joyfully on its feet. Branden Campbell, his bass based tag team partner in ax excellence molds a provocative link in the ongoing story. As this song rounds into form Tyler graduates from being teller of tale to embodying that very guy the younger femmes want holding them when the earth is shaking in undesirable directions. "Pop Psychology" is the to be released in April album. Naturally psychology is the front and center drawing care working behind the scenes in the lyrics. Heart stopping is the only description worthy enough to define the "All my friends" chant like refrain dropping in towards the close of the song. That's what I like to call building up anticipation for the return of the chorus. Any piece of entertainment be it a movie, TV show, or concert has to have a pretty substantial lather worked up to draw attention to how special it wants us to think it is. "Sleeping With a Friend" is tangible progress in the band's development. Where "Animal" was more cutesy than go for broke, "Friend" does what they say the best big time basketball players, the creme de la creme of football players do when the spotlight is turned squarely on them...they leave it all out on the field. The accrued elbow grease delivers payoff in spades. We know Valentine's Day hasn't slid into view as yet. Even so "Sleeping With a Friend" is right up there on the deliciousness scale of one to ten with the best of what the chocolate manufacturers can send our way. Not only is Tyler zeroing in on our vulnerable sides the synthesizer fills seal the deal, planting as many stars as you could hope to obtain on a clear, sultry, tourist saturated night in Vegas, expectations in the upright and locked position. Unlike the many who swarm Vegas seeking the big bucks, Neon Trees guarantees in this outing that music lovers will always come out money ahead. That's a wager I'm proud to accept. Neon Trees clearly shows that its buzzing with the self same light of the Vegas strip. "Sleeping With a Friend" won't leave any of you nodding off. Way too much zing for that risk to assume the menace of reality.