Cage The Elephant - ‘Neon Pill’ Review: An expansion of what came before
Neon Pill, the first single from Cage The Elephant’s 6th studio album, is out now via RCA Records.
★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Credit: Cage The Elephant 📸
It’s here, it’s finally here. Those were the words racing through our minds as Instagram lit up with the return of Cage The Elephant.
The excitement was practically indescribable. This is a band that hasn’t released a new tune for 5 years. A lot has happened in that time. An arrest for illegally loaded guns last year, and not to mention a global pandemic.
Cage The Elephant consists of Matt Shultz (vocals), Brad Shultz (rhythm guitar), Nick Bockrath (lead guitar), Matthan Minster (guitar, keyboards), Daniel Tichenor (bass), and Jared Champion (drums).
Oozing with psychedelia and following stylistically where Social Cues left us in 2019, Neon Pill feels like an expansion of what came before. It’s so similar, that you’d be forgiven for dismissing it as a B-side.
It may have been 5 long years, but this is no radical step forward. Not the stylistic change we were anticipating. And we’re not alone.
Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean you should dismiss it. The fact it’s instantly recognisable is a testament to the Kentucky-rockers finding their niche, through award-winning albums Melaphobia and Tell Me I’m Pretty.
Social Cues was the first album with a unified theme, Matt Shultz’s tumultuous divorce. A record which felt vulnerable, confident and polished.
Neon Pill shares a lot of these qualities. Ear-worm vocals accompanied by funky sound effects you’d find in a Sci-Fi film. They’ve always made weird and wonderful sound cool. What the ‘Neon Pill’ refers to is up for interpretation, but the reference to guns sounds close to home.
While not what we expected, this tune still slaps. It’ll be filling thousands, if not millions, of playlists right now.
There’s something we haven’t mentioned yet. Cage The Elephant is never short on surprises. Our advice is to stick with it. What’s next could throw album no.6 into a completely new direction. Time will only tell.
A world tour will follow, too. And one thing we can be sure of is this band lives for the stages, with an unrivalled stage presence.
