I Can Feel You Forgetting Me

Album review

The six years separating Pop Psychology and I Can Feel You Forgetting Me was a big enough gap that fans could have easily forgotten about Neon Trees. Fortunately, their fourth album delivers a memorable update on their music. They didn't have to change much: the '80s sounds that inspired them back in the Habits days were still as popular as ever at the time of I Can Feel You Forgetting Me's release. For their first album of the 2020s, Tyler Glenn and company give their pulse-pounding pop a washy, atmospheric haze in keeping with the era's production values. This echo-laden sound is a perfect fit for the slightly haunted vibe of I Can Feel You Forgetting Me's songs. Glenn has always chronicled lust, love, and loss in witty detail, and his examinations of nonconfrontational, "ghosting" breakups that leave the ones left behind wondering what went wrong are filled with the kind of earworm choruses, wordplay, and multiple hooks usually heard in '80s pop and show tunes. Considering that Glenn made his Broadway debut during Neon Trees' time away, perhaps it's not a coincidence that I Can Feel You Forgetting Me's songs are as catchy and cohesive as a musical about the toll 2020s romance takes on the heart and soul. Though the album's subject matter is familiar, Neon Trees' attitude is not. On songs like "Nights," they sound just as impassioned about heartache as they did about chasing thrills on "Animal" or "Sleeping With a Friend," but most of I Can Feel You Forgetting Me reflects how it's harder to bounce back from rejection as a single person in their thirties than it was a decade prior. Lingering feelings, bad habits, and post-breakup emptiness unite songs such as "Holy Ghost," where the sparkling guitars and keyboards recall the U2 and the Police, and the fizzy electro-pop standout "Skeleton Boy." As on Pop Psychology and Glenn's solo album Excommunication, the best moments happen when the rawness in his words and voice take the lead. Several of these highlights are on the record's self-aware second half. On "Living Single," Glenn sings "f*ck modern love," sounding weary to his bones while the music bounces along; "New Best Friend" gives the album its own kind of happy ending as he embraces the emotional roller coaster ride on its breezy verses and unexpected breakdowns. Despite their long hiatus, Neon Trees didn't ghost their fans -- I Can Feel You Forgetting Me is a strong return that modernizes what they do best with plenty of style and heart.

© Heather Phares /TiVo