After several days of teasing, Cage the Elephant have finally confirmed their return! On Thursday (Jan. 30), the Kentucky-founded band announced the release of their fourth studio album.
Titled Social Cues, the 13-track record is due out April 19 through RCA. Pre-orders for the forthcoming release are currently available on Cage the Elephant’s website.
Social Cues is the follow-up to the act’s 2015’s Grammy Award-winning album, Tell Me I’m Pretty. As if getting 13 new songs from the band wasn’t enough, the tracklisting for the record also confirms a special collaboration by Beck.
The band and the musician collaborated on a track titled “Night Running.” According to an interview with Rolling Stone, guitarist Brad Shultz admits that it was one of the songs on the new album that was in limbo for a long time. The cause? His brother and Cage the Elephant lead vocalist, Matt Shultz.
“Matt was leaving early every day, and I got super-pissed and told him he wasn’t trying,” Shultz admits.
“We feel like we’ve pushed ourselves, and that’s all we can ask for. We became better friends. It doesn’t mean that we got along the whole time, but in the end, adversity brings you closer.”
Even with their disagreements, things did turn out for the better. The group sent the song to Beck, who they had met at an event. A day later, Beck returned with his contribution to the song; two rap verses.
In addition to announcing the new album, providing its release date, and posting pre-orders, the sextet also premiered the lead single off the forthcoming release.
Titled “Ready to Let Go,” the track was reportedly inspired by a trip Matt took to Pompeii. It was then that he realized him and his wife needed to divorce. It’s the divorce ultimately inspired the darkness on the new record.
Listen to “Ready to Let Go” above while the album’s full tracklisting can be found below:
SOCIAL CUES TRACKLISTING:
1. “Broken Boy”
2. “Social Cues”
3. “Black Madonna”
4. “Night Running” (feat. Beck)
5. “Skin and Bones”
6. “Ready to Let Go”
7. “House of Glass”
8. “Love’s the Only Way”
9. “The War is Over”
10. “Dance Dance”
11. “What I’m Becoming”
12. “Tokyo Smoke”
13. “Goodbye”
Talk Music To Me 