Cage the Elephant New Album Social Cues Review
Critic'due south Pick
Cage the Elephant Returns, Suspended Betwixt Rowdiness and Regret
- Social Cues
- NYT Critic's Pick
Peace of heed is way out of attain on "Social Cues," the fifth studio album by the Kentucky rock band Cage the Elephant.
On "Social Cues," the group combines — and revitalizes — two well-worn scenarios: the pains-of-fame anthology and the romantic-breakup anthology (the band'south frontman, Matt Shultz, was recently divorced). Both situations phone call for thorough cocky-questioning and the mournful recognition that joy is fleeting, along with flashes of anger, estrangement, guilt and melancholy. No wonder most of the new songs revolve around minor chords.
Onstage, Cage the Elephant has proudly maintained rock's men-will-be-boys tradition; Shultz is a live wire exulting in the moment. And ever since its 2008 debut anthology, the group has noisily defied the cultural pass up of rock in the 21st century. The band writes and performs equally if there is nonetheless a canonical direct line from 1950s stone 'northward' roll through the British Invasion and the psychedelic 1960s, the glam and punk 1970s, the new wave and arena rock 1980s and the grungy 1990s, all the way to the nowadays — as if hip-hop hadn't all but completely sidelined the guitar band.
Cage the Elephant's songs unmistakably connect to rock'southward by. Its music is studded with sonic and structural allusions, though it doesn't linger on any detail style or era. And the songs are never merely period pieces or party tunes. The ring doesn't simply understand, and revel in, what a historical bibelot it is. It also has feelings, and shows them.
Merely even as the lyrics detail troubled thoughts, the music staves off self-pity with distorted tones, obstinate drumbeats and unhistrionic vocals. The album's producer, John Colina, is in no way a retro rock purist; his credits include tracks by Santigold, Florence and the Machine, Eminem and Shakira, and with him Cage the Elephant devises past-and-present fusions. "Ready to Let Go," the first single from "Social Cues," pinpoints the moment of a human relationship'southward plummet. A garage-stone fuzz-toned guitar and a drumbeat that sounds looped (in hip-hop style) conduct lyrics that realize things are beyond repair: "On both sides the vow was broken," Shultz sings. "Oh my my I'thou the i/Trying to hide this damage done."
Throughout the album, the fragility of dearest collides with the personality warp of glory. The title track of "Social Cues" portrays a rock star's freakout, with a hook built from wavery tones that hint at David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes." In his ragged voice, Shultz warns, "Don't know if I tin can play this part much longer" and contemplates suicide — "The best die immature/immortalize" — just to be told, "At least yous're on the radio."
"Cleaved Boy" opens the album with a galloping, dawdling burst of latter-day kraut-rock that demands, "Tell me why I'm forced to live in this pare." In "House of Glass," the band revs upward to barbed, anomalous punk as the deadpan singer notes that he'due south just "Another mirrored image/Corrupted and distorted." And in "The War Is Over," a sputtering march vanquish and ghostly organ tones enfold a tale of crumbling defenses: "You lot can build your walls/Dear volition tear it down," Shultz moans.
There'southward little condolement on "Social Cues." Instead, songs muster a sullen perseverance laced with pessimism — "We'll all imitation it 'til we forget," Shultz sneers in "Trip the light fantastic toe Trip the light fantastic toe" — amid a sense that all the band's adroitness and rock erudition tin't relieve despair. The anthology's quietly devastating finale is "Good day," an elegy for a failed romance: "Lord knows how hard nosotros tried." Keyboard chords toll and a cord arrangement wafts in, but when Shultz concludes, "Information technology's all right, information technology's all right, it'south all right," he'southward non deceiving anyone.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/17/arts/music/cage-the-elephant-social-cues-review.html
0 Response to "Cage the Elephant New Album Social Cues Review"
Post a Comment