Committed to modern youth and old New Wave, Neon Trees are the all-Mormon Utah four-piece who hit big with the exasperatingly sticky "Animal." On their second LP, they still favor mannered Anglophile synth pop that has somehow retained its "alternative" branding three decades after the Eighties. Rants like "Teenage Sounds" and wide-eyed whooshers like "Still Young" are all adolescent angst and cool-kid romance. "Everybody Talks" opens with the kind of ascending harmonies Bowie's "Let's Dance" took from "At the Hop"; "Trust" is a New Order facsimile. The album gets artier as it progresses: Four of its last five tracks exceed five minutes. Neon Trees clearly hope there’s life beyond bubblegum.

Listen to Neon Trees' 'Picture Show':

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“Youth Knows No Pain”

“Like on 'Youth Knows No Pain' — we are the ones that should demonstrate, because we can take it,” Likke Li said. “We can pierce ourselves, take Ecstasy, dance all night and still go to work at our McDonald's jobs.” Despite the hedonistic sentiment in the song, the Swedish singer also admitted in hindsight her youth had repercussions. “I remember when I was 18-19 and feeling that I know it all,” Li said. “I always feel that I know it all. But that song is about realizing you don’t, and reflecting, ‘Boy, if I only knew what would follow.’”