The multi-platinum alternative quartet Neon Trees release their long awaited fourth studio album, ‘I Can Feel You Forgetting Me.’ The album explores a myriad of introspective themes across isolation, personal relationships, self-discovery and fulfillment set to the band’s signature sound cast in synth soul and rooted in robust guitars with unforgettable danceable beats. Tyler Glenn, lead vocalist, penned much of the album over several years from a deep place of reflection. Listeners will hear how much of the lyrics were inspired by personal memories and feelings.
Rikki Blank, host of QLifeStream’s new web-based talk show interviewed Glenn. The full video interview will be available on an upcoming episode of Queerality.
It’s been six years since Neon Trees put out their last album. You’ve done Kinky Boots, you put out a solo album, why regroup now? What brought Neon Trees back together?
We had always been together, ostensibly. There were a lot of middle years between 2014 until now where it was a bit of a journey and a process. There were a lot of business decisions to be made. We were always writing, and after Kinky Boots, I felt very definitively, that I was ready to write a Neon Trees record. I was ready to go to L.A. and record it. Right after New York, I went right to L.A. and started writing, and before that, it had always been like, oh, maybe I’ll do another solo thing, or maybe it’s a new thing. After that experience on Broadway, it gave me a lot of my groove back, my confidence back, a vision creatively. That’s why I felt really supported by my band to just go off and start writing. I wrote 40 songs and it slowly became this record. It felt right at the time. I’m happy we waited this long. but I don’t want to wait another six years to make another album.
Do you have an idea when you’re writing a song if it’s going to be a solo thing, a Neon Trees song, or something new... how does that process work for you?
I just write. I don’t really even stick to a theme or an idea right away. Things rise to the top. Neon Trees is very much a band, but it’s still very much me writing the songs about my experience and influence, as much as a solo record is different, it’s still my voice.
Being out and where I am in my life, I don’t think I’m really separating themes, or ideas, or even voices. It’s just more vibes, and what do I want to say? And is this the right thing for this record now. It wasn’t always that way with my band. I feel really free creating with them as of late.
This is the first Neon Trees album that you’ve put out since you’ve come out. How much does that influence your writing process?
A ton. I wrote Pop Psychology, our third record, while I was in the closet. That was the record that came out around the time that I came out. A lot of people attribute that record to a coming-out record, but I still was very much in the closet, wrestling with identity while I was writing that album. So you’re right, this is the first record since coming out. Not only am I out as a gay man, but I’m also out of the trappings of the faith that I was raised in, and I feel label-less almost or like there’s no ceiling creatively where I could go. I really put a lot of energy into this record. I feel even more confident now. I just want to continue in that energy of no ceiling of topics... there shouldn’t be a roof to where you can go creatively.
It’s totally influenced my comfortability with pronouns or being honest with themes and topics. Honesty, I love pop music. I make pop music, but when there’s a level of honesty and a component of personality, it just elevates shit. That’s what I’ve seen, and I just want to continue on that path.
All the lyrics on this album are genderless. Is that a distinction that you wanted to make in terms of it being a pop record, universally acceptable, and just have it at the back of everyone’s mind that oh, ‘he’s gay’ he’s writing this from the perspective of a gay relationship?
I wasn’t even conscious of that, where I have been on previous records. For example, on my solo record “Excommunication”, I did use ‘he.’ I was blatant about those things, but I was also talking to God, at the same time as my ex. It was this duality. I also call God, ‘she’ on the record. I don’t really have a subscribed idea of who God even is, but on this record, I didn’t even think about it because, as I’ve just started to live my life these last few years I do just feel effortlessly myself. On our song “Everybody Talks” or on past records, I’ve said ‘she’ just to hide my sexuality. On this record, you’re right, it’s genderless and the message is clear. I didn’t even really think about hiding it anymore. Maybe that’s a good thing. It was just “this is me,” and this is what I’m talking about.
Yes, it’s obviously about a guy because I’m an out, gay man. Those are my feelings. I suppose that’s where I was coming from when I was writing, totally.
This album is about one person, but on the song “Holy Ghost” for example, you’ve talked about walking away from your faith. Did it feel that you were going through two breakups at the same time?
As much as it is about one person, I’m also mourning the loss and also the experience of moving past other traumas as well. Thank you for noticing that about “Holy Ghost.” I was putting a spin on it because there’s themes of ghosting on this record and being sort of forgotten about, and it’s this phenomenon… we can just unfollow someone, and all of sudden they don’t exist. I wanted to take the idea of having the Holy Spirit and the idea of this companion that when in religion where if you’re doing good, you’ll feel the Holy Ghost, and if you’re not, the Holy Ghost leaves you, and that was sort of an interplay on words. I’m still in a place in my life where sometimes it is brimming right on the surface. I’m happy that I don’t want to be the type of person that just throws their life away and starts fresh just because there’s still value in looking in the past and analyzing what that was, but also always moving forward. I hope that’s what I’m doing, at least that’s how it feels right now.
You didn’t really have a normal coming out. You famously came out in Rolling Stone. Where was your head at, during that time?
I had come out a couple of months prior to friends and family, my band, and people in my life.
I knew that the article was being published that week in March. I was really excited, but I was so, so nervous. On the other side of it, I was greeted with a lot of support from people that I thought I wouldn’t get it from. At the time when I came out, I was still actively believing in Mormonism, and so that added a component to where I was still worried. What would they say? What would they think? How would my standing be in this religion, now that I’m coming out? I felt supported and tried to live my life a few years that way and realized I had to look at the things that I believed in. I don’t want to go off on a religious tangent, but I really recognized how toxic and damaging the messaging that I had believed in my whole life really was.
I also realized none of it was for me as a queer person.
Why have I carried so much devotion and belief in this? I’ve been conditioned and wired to completely believe in this thing that’s just not even reality. I went through a real tailspin. Leaving the religion and purging a lot of that has been harder. There are so many things. I know I’m gay. I’ve always felt that, but for so much of my life, I rejected it, suppressed it, or tried to compartmentalize it to fit something that was never meant to fit in anyway. I love being a few years past all of that because it’s only made me see that I am growing. I’m on your way. It’s been a really wild up and down couple of years. On top of all that craziness, it’s amplified by the idea that doing this publicly for a lot of people...a lot of people have seen me go through this...a lot of fans of I have watched me go up and down the last few years. It has a real interesting weight and pressure.
So what’s next for you?
I’m still feeling inspired creatively. I’m just deciding where do I put that? Is that in an album? Is that in a song? Is that in a book? Or is that an idea for something else? It’s crazy to go from putting an album out two weeks ago after two years to jump right into a new project right away. I feel like I have a lot of stories to share and a lot of experiences that could be helpful in a book, especially to those that are younger than me. I’m not ready to write the memoir of my life, but I think I’ve lived a lot of lives in my walk here on this planet, and I want to focus some of that into a long-form thing. We live in an age where everything is two minutes and now I’m looking to write a book, but I feel called to it. I feel drawn to it.