Neon Trees have definitely secured a semi-stable niche with the American top 40 audience through “Animal” and “Everybody Talks.” Therefore, it should come as no surprise that “Sleeping With A Friend,” the lead single from their forthcoming third album Pop Psychology, follows a pretty safe and calculated pop formula. The track opens with a fluffy mix of electric guitars, bass-heavy synths, and dance-centric percussion while Tyler Glenn sings about a night out on the town with his close friends. They’re adventurous, they’re young, and they’re hooking up with each other against their better judgment. The “ooh, ooh”/”mood, mood” rhyme that kicks off the chorus lodges itself in your brain, and there are a couple of decent lyrics that keep the track from coming across as too half-assed and asinine (e.g. “All my friends stay up past midnight, looking for the thing to fill the void”).
This is probably gonna get a lot of radio play, and it’ll be fun to listen to the first few months it’s out. Pretty standard Neon Trees single, but hey, it could be a lot worse.