Neon Trees, Nightmare and The Cat, Smallpools

The ubiquitousness of 2012’s wholly stylized but aggravatingly catchy hit single “Everybody Talks” turned Neon Trees into pop-rock superstars, and the band’s Mormon homebase of Provo, Utah, into a pop-rock feeding ground. In the interim, singer Tyler Glenn came out as gay, and the revelation lends an endearing vulnerability to this year’s Pop Psychology, which further hones the band’s fizzy, breezy, verse-chorus-verse pop. (Patrick Wall)