IN REVIEW: Cage the Elephant - "Social Cues"

Of all the rock bands to achieve widespread mainstream success this decade, you'd be hard pressed to find one as simultaneously radio friendly and weird as Cage the Elephant. They've been able to cover all sorts of sonic ground in the decade since Ain't No Rest for the Wicked smashed, and they've done it by hiding hit singles inside albums where they've fearlessly followed their muse.

The title track of their fifth album acknowledges this in a way, as Matt Shultz sings about his anxiety over "play(ing) this part" and struggling with his thoughts about the true cost of success, summed up at the end of the chorus, "at least you're on the radio". Indeed, throughout Social Cues, there is a tug of war between commercial acceptance and the freedom to experiment. Much of the album resides in a dark retro vision not too different from the territory Arctic Monkeys traveled to on their breakthrough AM, although Cage the Elephant deals less in romanticism and more in bleak and nervous energies.

And yet, ten minutes in we get Night Running, a groovy and melodic heat-seeking chart missile that enlists Beck for the album's most explicitly radio-serving moment. The thing is, they needn't lean this hard on mainstream viability, because lead single Ready to Let Go is more than worthy of its hit status while also allowing the darkness to dictate the song's terms; a eulogy of a failed relationship with one of the band's most memorable choruses, Ready to Let Go strikes a balance that tells me the band shouldn't have to worry about creating hits because their writing is strong enough to virtually guarantee it's going to happen at least a couple of times per album cycle.

Still, even though many of the songs tread similar ground, there is room to explore here as evidenced by the heavy, off-kilter House of Glass and the string-soaked ballad Love's the Only Way. Perhaps the most stunning left turn on Social Cues is closing track Goodbye, a solemn and slightly offbeat dénouement that brings the album to an emotional, heartbreaking end. It's haunting, beautiful and easily identifiable without sacrificing the band's restless sonic tendencies.

Social Cues has some interesting moments, but overall doesn't take enough chances, but I can't exactly blame them for wanting to ensure some continued success. Still, I believe there's more room to move, as it were; Cage the Elephant can be one of the most exciting, difficult to pin down bands on the radio, but we may never find out just how exciting they can be unless they can exclude radio from their plans.

April 19, 2019 • RCA
Highlights Ready to Let Go • House of Glass • Goodbye