Cage The Elephant - 'Ready To Let Go'
Cage The Elephant release upbeat new single, ‘Ready To Let Go’.
Ahead of the release of their fifth album, titled ‘Social Cues’, Cage The Elephant have won us over yet again with a new single. With the exception of their ‘Unpeeled’ stripped back album released 18 months ago, this is the first new music we’ve heard from the Kentucky based band since their last album in 2015.
Releasing a video at the same time, ‘Time To Let Go’ is a seriously catchy, toe tapping come back single. The song itself could easily be a forgotten B-side from their previous album ‘Tell Me I’m Pretty’, or earlier material. Their distinct sound is instantly recognisable, although it’s been over a decade since their debut album, years later Cage The Elephant are still making absolute bangers. ‘Time To Let Go’ is no exception, with the video to this punchy single giving us a little more context to the story.
The character led video is directed by the bands frontman, Matt Shultz, and sees him playing the lead role. However, there are different personas he plays, having a real horror movie edge to it, the video is slightly uncomfortable to watch at times, due to its artistic direction, but the compelling qualities of the song overpower any unease. ‘Ready To Let Go’ along with most of ‘Socials Cues’ was written whilst Matt Shultz was going through a break up, and because of this it might just be the most personal album yet.
Talking about the video Shultz said “when I'm creating, I try to put myself in a reactive state of improvisational thought. I let images just arise in my mind and wait for it to evoke an emotional response and then when it does, I know I'm on to something.” This may explain the videos visuals, also said to be inspired by the director Fassbinder, Shultz clearly has a wild imagination. I guess it’s a ‘you need to watch it’ scenario, as describing Matt Shultz sporting a red patent bodysuit isn’t really something I ever intended I’d have to do. This could be a new direction for Cage The Elephant, I guess the clues are there, but in the meantime we can’t wait for the new album, set to be released 19th April.
Words by Abbie Jennings