Neon Trees released their newest album, Picture Show, taking listeners on a musical journey. Image Courtesy of Google Images
On April 17, Neon Trees released their new album, Picture Show, to the joy of all their fans. When the followers of the band played the album, though, they got a shock to their systems. Instead of the energetic explosions like those that premiered on their first record, Habits, listeners heard a smoother, slightly slower sound.
In their first album, Neon Trees jump-started the crowd with their fast paced songs like Animal and 1983, two of the big name tracks on the record. Both songs use fast-paced beats and catchy lyrics to get everyone up and on the dance floor. Also on this album comes the track Your Surrender, which was used in the 2011 Disney movie Prom.
The first song publicly released from Picture Show was Everybody Talks, which falls into the same sort of style of the tracks on Habits. This song was released as a single in December, hitting it off incredibly well with the public. It jumped to their second most-popular song on the iTunes charts, behind Animal, where it now currently sits.
The next biggest track on the album is a song called Moving in the Dark, one which brings up the ideas that can spring from two people having an intimate moment together. But this piece also brings up a consistent theme to the album, which is love. Love is heard across the album in tracks such as Still Young, Weekend, I am the D.J. and the two aptly named pieces Mad Love and Lessons in Love.
I am the D.J. is a track that really shows the group’s growth since the last album, with a different sound to it. The difference comes from the lack of distortion used on the guitar, the way the drum kit is used, and the way the lyrics are sung.
I am the DJ brings the most noticeable change in Neon Trees sound. Image Courtesy of Google Images
The first change heard is the guitar. In their biggest hit, Animal, the guitar is distorted to create a pop kind of sound instead of the more classical sound that the electric guitar normally creates. After the guitar takes the intro, the drums soon join, with more of a bass drum sound, versus the sound of the cymbals that drives many of the other Neon Trees songs. Although the song does include a fair amount of cymbals, the drum is what drives the song. Then comes the difference in the way the lyrics are sung. In Habits, many of the songs have the lyrics come fast and are fairly rapid. While the chorus of I am the D.J. is sung fast and short, many of the verses find the last word dragged out.
Another song on the album that sticks out is Hooray For Hollywood. While the track is more towards the sound of the new album, the thing that makes this song noticeable is an interlude that happens during the song. In a later part of the song, names of many different Hollywood stars that died are listed off. These stars died from OD, suicide or murder. These stars range form musicians like Jimi Hendrix to actresses like Marilyn Monroe. The song then proceeds to repeat Amy Whitney, referencing two stars, Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston that died in the past year due to OD.
Picture Show is a nice change of pace. The slower tracks and the sound changes bring a new Neon Trees to the world. Die-hard fans of the group might have a bit of a problem with the changes, but if something different is what’s called for, this is the place to find it.
Rating: ★★★★★
