Cage The Elephant returns, reflects on past five years with 'Neon Pill'
Five years since their last album, Cage The Elephant is back and better than ever with their new album Neon Pill. With previous albums, the band established themselves to be at the forefront of modern rock, and Neon Pill continues that streak. Originally formed in Kentucky, Cage The Elephant is led by two brothers; Matt and Brad Shultz. On the album, both brothers prove themselves to be experts in their field, with Matt’s mesmerizing vocals and Brad’s skilled guitar work creating a cohesive, nostalgic album.
From the first track on the album, “HiFi (True Light),” it is quickly apparent that despite their hiatus, the band hadn’t lost their beloved sound. While it is clear that this album follows their most recent, Social Cues, some of the grittier vocals are reminiscent of their 2015 album Tell Me I’m Pretty.
Photo via @cagetheelephant on Instagram.
“HiFi (True Light)” leads into “Rainbow,” one of the album’s most fun tracks. With lyrics such as “You are more vibrant than a technicolor flower bloom / Worth more than any sunset that I ever even knew” and the catchy, titular chorus line, “Right 'round, got me floating like a rainbow,” this song has all the makings to be a 2024 summer anthem. The song is simply enjoyable, though it certainly doesn’t lack originality and depth.
The lead single, “Neon Pill,” addresses some of the more hard-hitting themes of the album. During the 5 years between albums, Matt Shultz experienced psychosis due to adverse effects from a prescribed medication. He describes this as well as alludes to his arrest in the chorus: “It's a hit and run, oh no / Double-crossed by a neon pill / Like a loaded gun, my love / Double-crossed, crossed by a neon pill.” Though the song was first released in January, about four months before the album, this titular track is withstanding and hasn’t lost its charm.
“Float Into The Sky” seems to continue Shultz’s musings on his state of psychosis, but brings in an element of nostalgia. Shultz longs for a previous time in the first two lines, “All these days in chains / The present age on fire.” He references his confused mindstate in the chorus about retreating into one’s own mind, as well as the poignant bridge lyric, “I'm so tired of trying to make some sense of everything I see.”
Photo via @cagetheelephant on Instagram.
“Metaverse” asks, “What the hell?” twice over, and answers with, “Oh, well, that's life,” and subsequently “I keep running and running.” This track is on the more upbeat end, but still carries forth that theme of nostalgia. The title implies an internet world, perhaps signaling that the singer is zoned out and discouraged with life. This aligns with a line in the chorus, “Double check, checked out, I'm half asleep.”
Midway through the album, the band drops one of their best: “Out Loud.” It’s one of the album’s most introspective and vulnerable, where the singer admits, “Man, I really messed up now / Too afraid to say it out loud / I can barely breathe, who'm I tryin' to be?”
After “Ball and Chain,” a bold beat with lyrics that again seem to be about Shultz’s psychosis, comes “Good Time.” “Good Time” feels like one of Neon Pill’s most unique tracks, both in terms of the album itself as well as the band’s general discography. It is enthrallingly energetic and is a brief departure from some of the more somber themes of the album.
Lyrically, “Shy Eyes” might be one of the less elaborate tracks, but that doesn’t stop it from resonating. The singer asks “Have I become a pastime, passed by?” This is consistent with the overall feeling of the album: that time is passing and it cannot be stopped. In the post-chorus, Shultz repeats over and over, “You cut through my human condition.”
“Silent Picture” is a perfect example of the vocals and instrumentals complementing each other. As Shultz weaves a compelling storyline through his singing, the guitar is imbued with emotion and grips the listener. The guitar riffs and solos take this track to the next level.
“For an instant, it was magic,” Shultz proclaims in “Same.” The lyric encapsulates what’s at the core of this album — the sense that something beautiful has come and gone, and an irrevocable change has occurred. In the final line of the chorus, and of the song as a whole, the singer asks “Will we ever be the same, same, same, same, same?”
To address the swirling questions and turmoil of all the songs before it, “Over Your Shoulder” finishes the album with a definitive resolution. While for most of the album, the singer is lost in remembering the past, here he reminds himself and the listener “Don't look back over your shoulder” and “When it feels like it gets colder / Every season will pass.”
