SONG PREMIERE: UTOPIA PKWY BEND POST-POP INTO PSYCHEDELIA ON “SLEEP IN MOVING COLORS”
There are songs that take a few listens to really sink in, and then there are songs like Utopia Pkwy’s “Sleep In Moving Colors” that immediately make you wonder where the hell this band has been hiding.
Today, Get Some Magazine is stoked to premiere “Sleep In Moving Colors,” the latest track from Utopia Pkwy and their forthcoming self-titled debut LP, out November 6.
The track is super clean, ultra-smart, and catchy as measles. Seriously, good luck getting this thing out of your head. Utopia Pkwy blends post-pop, synth-wave, and psychedelia into something that feels familiar without appearing like they’re simply ripping through a checklist of influences. It’s dreamy when it needs to be, weird in all the right places, and polished without losing its personality.
Imagine Tame Impala and Phantogram jumping into a moving sonic blender together and you’re somewhere in the neighborhood. Synths swirl around an infectious groove while the vocals float effortlessly above everything, giving the song a nearly hypnotic quality that keeps pulling you deeper as it moves along. There’s a lot happening underneath the surface, but nothing feels overcrowded or unnecessarily complicated.
That’s probably what works best about the track. Utopia Pkwy clearly put a ton of thought into every layer, but they never let all that clever shit get in the way of writing an actual song you want to hear again. The production is incredibly crisp, the hooks land almost immediately, and there are enough little details buried throughout to reward another listen. And another.
And then it ends.
Honestly, that’s our biggest complaint with “Sleep In Moving Colors.” We wanted another minute of it. Maybe two. The track gets its hooks into you, finds a groove, gets increasingly weirder, and then decides it’s done with you. Rude.
Thankfully, the replay button exists. Utopia Pkwy’s self-titled debut arrives November 6. Until then, we’ll be over here playing this one again.
With Tanner McGraw taking over lead vocals, did his interpretation of “Sleep In Moving Colors” reveal anything that surprised you?
Definitely. I originally thought of the song as something suspended between waking and dreaming, but Tanner brought out a much more emotional side of it.
He sang it less like a song about astral projection and more like someone trying to connect with another person across some distance. There was a tenderness in his performance that I hadn’t completely heard in the lyrics before.
That’s one of the best things about working with another singer. They can find a doorway into the song that you didn’t know was there.
Were there any films, books, artists, or personal experiences that served as creative touchstones?
I was thinking about films like The Red Shoes, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Holy Mountain, Fellini’s dream sequences, and Cocteau’s use of mirrors. I love films where color and space feel like part of the psychology rather than just the background.
A lot of it also came from that strange moment just before you fall asleep, when images start appearing on their own. You’re still awake enough to watch them, but you’re not really controlling them anymore.
That feeling became the center of the song: the mind creating its own private movie.
What does “Sleep In Moving Colors” reveal about the broader journey of Debut?
“I Knew You Would Be Trouble” introduces the brighter, more immediate side of Utopia PKWY: the synths, the momentum, the romantic tension, and the pop hooks.
“Sleep In Moving Colors” goes a little deeper. It shows that the album isn’t only about relationships or memories. It also moves through dreams, altered states, and different ways of experiencing time and reality.
It felt like the right second single because it expands the world without losing the melody. It takes the listener somewhere stranger, but it still feels welcoming.
Utopia PKWY - TRACKLISTING
1. I Knew You Were Trouble
2. Sleep In Moving Colors
3. Nothing Is Missing
4. If I Could Steal One More Kiss
5. You Talk Like Every Feeling
6. What Disappears
7. Come In Waves
8. Glitter And Doom
9. Fall Into You
10. Dreaming I'm A Rock Star
