Social Cues is the 5th album from Cage The Elephant, a band that seemed ready made to have people guessing not if - but when - they will become stadium huge.

Sure, they won a Grammy for Best Rock Album but that never ensures longevity or a kick ass career. Cage's strength has always been their signature dirty bluesy guitars that sound radio ready yet always with a touch of friendly menace.

On Social Cues the band is braced for maturity with some touching rewards. It's always a drag when a writer has to experience firsthand loss, death and divorce to focus their songwriting toward introspection, that feeling of disconnection is what Matt Shultz draws from with songs, "Love's The Only Way", "House of Glass", "Skin and Bones" and "Ready To let Go".

The title track finds Matt repeating "I'll be in the back room, tell me when it's over, don't know if I can play this part much longer." That says a lot about the state of mind of someone questioning everything after major life changes, and who can't relate?

A band who is known for their exciting freak-sandwich of a live show doesn't forget to lead off the album with a banger, if "Broken Boy" were a grade school report card it would be "Disruptive to others" in the best possible way.

Resources

Cage the Elephant - Official Site