Cage The Elephant ‘Melophobia’

Words by Brielle Cotelo

Growing far above their Southern roots of Bowling Green, KY, Cage The Elephant comes to you with their third studio release Melophobia, an album based on the idea that “you don’t write a song, you find it.”

After relentlessly touring in support of their first self-titled release as well as 2011’s Thank You, Happy Birthday, the band decided to test out this radical new approach in the studio. And this highly experimental way of creating a record certainly paid off. Their album already landed itself on the number 2 spot on Billboard’s Top 200, and has sold 250,000 copies to date.

Melophobia introduces itself with the song “Spiderhead.” The track begins with a repetition of one chord until the tempo picks up and unleashes some 60’s rock ‘N’ roll. While lyrics like “Am I losing my mind here, cuz I can’t tell” seem dark, the upbeat melody proves to be the polar opposite.

The album’s single, “Come a Little Closer” hits the listener with more nostalgia – this time of an 80’s alternative rock vibe. The lyrics “come a little closer then you’ll see/things aren’t what they seem to be” give you a friendly reality check while you jam out.

“It’s Just Forever” implies a sappy love song of sorts, but take CTE’s advice and ‘come a little closer’. The track begins with almost a James Bond-style opening with a creepy twist and lyrics like “even if you treat me cold/ I’ll love you ’til we decompose/ and the skin falls off our bones”. Yup, you could not be further from sappy.

Cage The Elephant embodies a slightly darker tone than the albums prior – these songs are incomparable to the singles we all know such as “There Ain’t No Rest For The Wicked”. But being artists, that is the point: to adapt and revamp your style as you move along. The band provides for us something different and it is definitely appreciated.